The northeast Indiana congressman soon to be representing all Hoosiers in the U.S. Senate believes mass deportation of illegal immigrants must be the top priority for the Republican-controlled federal government in the new year.
Speaking on CNN Friday, U.S. Sen.-elect Jim Banks, R-Ind., called on Republican President-elect Donald Trump to speed the removal of some 15 million individuals who Banks said entered the United States without legal permission over the past four years.
"The American people spoke loud and clear on Tuesday. They gave this president, and Republicans, a mandate to do everything that we can. The goal should be to deport every illegal in this country that we can find," Banks said.
Banks expects Trump initially will prioritize the deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes in the United States.
But Banks believes they all ultimately must go — regardless of the impact of mass deportation on American agriculture, businesses and communities.
"It's my hope that we deport every single one of them that we can," Banks said. "And then also on top of that, increase the penalties on businesses who hire illegals in our country and take away the incentive for them to be here and for them to come here. And I think many of them will leave on their own. But the mass deportation plan needs to be an immediate focus of the House and the Senate."
It's not clear how mass deportation will work or how much it will cost American taxpayers. According to CNN, Trump said Thursday when it comes to mass deportations, "There is no price tag."
Banks is confident mass deportation won't be "that complicated" since he expects many illegal immigrants will voluntarily return to their home countries if they no longer have jobs in the United States.
"If you take away the incentive for them to come here in the first place, by turning up the pressure on those who employ illegals, then they're going to go back to where they came from," Banks said.
In any case, Banks insisted when it comes to mass deportation, "A mandate is a mandate and the president winning the popular vote on Tuesday is a strong signal that this is what the American people, the public, expects us to do."
Meanwhile, at the Indiana Statehouse Friday, Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita launched an investigation of what he contends are coordinated efforts among international and local nonprofit refugee resettlement organizations and employers to bring large numbers of migrants to Indiana communities.
"Illegal immigration caused by 'border czar' Kamala Harris' perversion and misapplication of federal law has made every state a border state and imposed unsustainable costs on Logansport and other cities across the nation," Rokita said.
"It has also created serious sex and labor trafficking risks in all communities. I’m creatively trying to use every tool in the law to stop the Left's intentional destruction of Indiana."
To that end, Rokita said he's employing his authority under the state's Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and indecent nuisance statute to demand detailed information about the migrant-related operations of the Cass County Health Department, Logansport Community School Corp., Berry Global Group Inc., Tent Partnership for Refugees, God is Good, and Jackson County Industrial Development Corp.
"The influx of these illegal aliens, which are coming from over 150 different countries, have strained our schools and the children of taxpayers are suffering as a result. It has caused unneeded stress on law enforcement, local hospitals and health care facilities, and our housing and labor markets. It also raises serious questions about how these individuals' arrival in Indiana is being facilitated," Rokita said.
The attorney general also has sued, or threatened to sue, multiple sheriff's departments across the state, including the Lake County Sheriff's Department, based on Rokita's belief the law enforcement agencies may not be fully cooperating with Democratic President Joe Biden's federal immigration enforcement efforts and thereby violating Indiana's "sanctuary city" ban.
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