Delivered March 9, 2015
Washington, D.C.
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
(As delivered)
Thank you, Mayor. It is good to be here. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Washington and 60-degree weather. I know we are really happy about that. As I was in the back, waiting to come up here, I had a moment of great trepidation listening to the musical segment. Someone said to me, you know you have to sing. Oh, well, I cannot sing. Your Secretary of Homeland Security does not know how to carry a tune. I do know a few things about the National League of Cities. I am here to pay tribute to this organization and to thank you for two very, very major and important positions that you have taken over the last several months, and I have an ask which I will get to. I have an important ask.
First, I have to tell a story. Thank you for the wonderful and warm welcome you gave our President this morning. I recall -- this is a lively group, a good group. I will enjoy talking to you. I recall eight years ago, January 2008, Des Moines, Iowa, introducing Senator Barack Obama for the first time to my 12-year-old daughter, then 12, now a college freshman. He walked into the room, there were many cameras, and a lot of excitement, and my daughter was standing right behind me, and I said to her, “Follow me, I am going to finally introduce you to our next President of the United States, Senator Barack Obama.” And we pushed forward through the crowd, and I turned around to introduce my 12-year-old daughter to Senator Obama, and she is gone. And the reason she is gone is because Scarlett Johansson has walked into the room. So I found my daughter, I scolded her, and she said, “I am really sorry, dad.” And to my 12-year-old's credit, on her own, she pressed forward through the cameras, through the fans, and introduced herself to Senator Obama with the words, “Mr. Obama, I am really sorry. My dad wanted me to meet you, but I had to meet an important person first.”
I’m sure you all would agree that our President is an important person. All of you are important people for reasons that I am going to discuss today. I was in Selma, Alabama, yesterday, and as I sat through the almost four hour church service, listening to the speeches and sermons, my mind turned to…I’m a graduate of Morehouse College, class of 1979. My mind turned to our most famous alumnus from the class of 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. One of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther King is the following – “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Today of course we would have to modify that to say man or woman. Today I would like to say to you, the National League of Cities, the ultimate measure of an organization is not where it stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where it stands at times of challenge and controversy. So I want to thank the National League of Cities first for your stand with the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security as we fought for a full -year appropriation last week. I want to thank you for standing with the 225,000 people in our organization who are members of the Coast Guard, Secret Service, FEMA, Immigration Enforcement, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and I could go on and on, for your courageous and unyielding stand in support of the homeland security of this nation, in support of a full-year appropriation for our department, and in support of our people.
Many people have said to me, congratulations, you must be happy, and I have to respond, we walked back from a cliff, literally. I would have had to furlough 30,000 men and women of our department who depend on a paycheck. You mayors out there imagine having to tell your own work force you must come to work, but I cannot pay you during the period of time that you must come to work. So we avoided the shutdown, and we now have a full-year appropriation for FY 2015. It is a good bill. It is a good appropriation. We’re now able to fund our vital homeland security missions, which include important grants to states, towns, and cities like those represented in this room for purposes of homeland security. It is especially important that in these times we work together on our joint homeland security mission.
The reality is that we have evolved to a new phase in the global terrorist threat, which requires that we evolve to a new phase in our counterterrorism efforts. The global terrorist threat today is more decentralized, more complex. It includes the phenomenon of foreign fighters, those going to places like Syria and then returning to their home communities. It involves effective use of the internet to reach into communities, perhaps your own community, in an attempt to recruit and inspire someone to commit an act of violence. We are concerned about the independent actor, the so-called lone wolf who could strike at a moment's notice. For my department and for the U.S government in general, it makes working with state and local communities, governors, mayors, police chiefs, commissioners, sheriffs all the more important. We do this through the issuance of joint intelligence bulletins and through our grant-making activity. The reality is that given how the global terrorist threat has evolved in this country and in other countries, in Europe and elsewhere, the cop on the beat may be the first one to learn about the terrorist attack. In 2015, therefore, homeland security must also mean hometown security.
On our end, we are engaged militarily against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, along with an international coalition. We are engaged in our law enforcement efforts to interdict and prosecute those who provide material support to terrorism. The FBI does a terrific job. I have directed the enhancement of our Federal Protective Service at federal buildings in major cities around the country. We have enhanced aviation security in this country and at last points of departure airports into the United States. This, by the way, must include working with cities, municipalities on airport security as well. We are moving forward with our preclearance capability to establish more security on the front end at airports overseas. Every opportunity I have to defend the homeland from the 50 yard line as opposed to the one-yard line we should take. We’re evaluating whether more security is necessary for our Visa Waiver Program for those who would travel to the United States from countries for which we do not require a visa. We are working with our counterterrorism partners and allies overseas more and more to deal with the global terrorist threat as it has evolved. We are enhancing the effectiveness of fusion centers. Those are things that many of you in this room are familiar with that exist in every state. We have revamped our “If You See Something, Say SomethingTM” campaign. “If You See Something, Say SomethingTM” must be more than a slogan. It requires, it calls for public participation in our efforts, in our homeland security efforts. We are engaged in what we call countering violent extremism interactions with communities around the country. I have personally been to places like Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Minneapolis to talk to community leaders in communities where there is a potential for young people to turn to violence. In my view, given how the world situation has evolved, it is all the more important that we do that here in the homeland. So when I go to these CVE engagements, very often I am with the police commissioner, the mayor, the city council member, the sheriff, and so forth.
The other thing I want to thank this organization for is your support of our efforts to reform the immigration system. We would have preferred congressional action, but the President and I identified nine actions we could take within our existing legal authorities to reform our system. We have issued reforms to facilitate the employment of high-skilled workers, something the President talked about this morning, to facilitate the issuance of green cards for high-skilled workers. We have strengthened border security. We’ve embarked upon a Southern Border Campaign strategy. I am pleased to report that this January and February the numbers of total apprehensions on our southern border are – and apprehensions are an indication of total attempts to cross the border illegally -- the numbers month-to-month are now the lowest they have been in several years because of seasonal factors and frankly because of our efforts and those of our partners south of the border.
Last year, as many of you know, we saw the heartbreaking spectacle of a number of children unaccompanied by any parent attempting to cross the southern border. I personally met with hundreds of children. I’m happy to report that this year, this month, last month there was a 42% decrease in the numbers of unaccompanied children from where we were last year. We are through our executive actions encouraging citizenship through greater public awareness and permitting people to pay for citizenship applications by credit card. We’re embarking upon pay reform for immigration enforcement personnel and we are revamping what we call prosecutorial discretion. We are focusing the use of our resources to deport and remove felons, not families. We want to stop tearing families apart. We are emphasizing national security, public safety, and border security over tearing families apart. We have created a new deferred action program for parents, for those who have been in this country for years, who have in effect become integrated members of society. There are by most estimates something like 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country. The reality is that given our resources, they are not going to be deported by any administration, Republican or Democrat. The most striking thing about that number of people is at least half, perhaps more than half, have been here in excess of 10 years. So the President and I, in November directed the creation of a new deferred action program for those who have been here five years, who have children, who are citizens or lawful permanent residents, and who have committed no serious crime. The reality is we have to deal with these people. We have to account for these people. And we should encourage them to come out of the shadows.
As all of you know, our actions have been challenged in the courts, and I thank this organization for your support of our position in that lawsuit in Texas. The National League of Cities filed an amicus brief that I think said it best -- DACA and DAPA, the deferred action program for parents, will fuel economic growth in cities across the country, increase public safety and public engagement, and facilitate the full integration of immigrant residents by promoting family unity and limiting family separation. That is from the National League of Cities. Thank you.
From my homeland security point of view, from my homeland security law enforcement point of view, we need to encourage people who have been here for years to come out of the shadows, to be held accountable. Frankly, the litigation and the decision in the injunction put us in an untenable position. The judge does not quarrel with the notion that we have the ability to engage in prosecutorial discretion, prioritize felons over families, and prioritize criminals over those who have been here and not committed any serious crimes. I want to take the additional step and encourage them to come out of the shadows so that we know who they are. The injunction basically prevents us from doing that. We’re supposed to somehow leave these people in the shadows. We want to take steps to bring them forward, have them pay taxes, apply for deferred action, and apply for work authorization. To encourage these people to be participants in society, report crimes, pay taxes, and get on the books. So the only thing I will say about the case, the only thing more I will say about the case is this is what appeals courts are for.
So what we say, what we must say to people in your communities who I have personally met with now: don't lose hope. As Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it always bends towards justice.” Those who in this country struggle for citizenship, struggle to be something more than a second-class person, know that history is on your side.
Now here is my ask: we have eliminated through our executive actions, the Secure Communities program. Secure Communities, the reality is was controversial legally and politically, and we replaced it with a new program called the Priority Enforcement Program. In my view, working together with mayors, governors, sheriffs, and police chiefs so that we can focus our resources on convicted criminals is a public safety imperative. That was the goal of the Secure Communities program but it had become legally and politically controversial. But the overarching goal, in my view is a public safety imperative.
In 177 jurisdictions, states, cities, counties, to one degree or another there were limitations placed on that jurisdiction’s ability to cooperate with our immigration personnel in the transfer of criminals for purposes of removal. Since January 1, 2014, over 12,000 detainers by our enforcement personnel were not honored. Frankly, in my view, this state of affairs puts public safety at risk. So we’ve done away with the Secure Communities program, and created a new program in its place, which in my view solves the legal and political controversy. We are no longer placing detainers on individuals, except if there is probable cause to solve the legal issue. We are replacing that with requests for notification. We are no longer putting detainers on people based simply on an arrest. We are now only seeking to transfer suspected terrorists, felons, convicted felons, those convicted of aggravated felonies, those active in street gangs, those convicted of significant misdemeanors, and those convicted of three or more misdemeanors.
So here is my ask: we want to work with you to restore this relationship. We have replaced Secure Communities with a new program for the benefit of public safety, but I need a partner in those in this room, in governors and mayors, county commissions and so forth. We have done our part to end the controversial Secure Communities program, and now I ask that you and others get with your city attorney, your city council, your police commissioner, your chief. Get ahold of the policy document that I issued in November to see how we have replaced the Secure Communities program for the benefit of all those we serve. And if you are one of those 177 jurisdictions, you will get a knock on the door from me, because we want to work with you to rebuild this relationship. In my view, it is a public safety imperative.
Elsewhere in our department, we are moving forward on our cybersecurity mission. We had legislation passed late last year. The administration has a new proposal for cybersecurity this year, which we hope the Congress will act on.
We are doing a number of things to reform the way in which we do business in the Department of Homeland Security. We have filled all of the senior level vacancies. We are rebuilding morale within the organization. We are moving in the direction of more transparency and so forth.
So this is a good time right now for homeland security. We have a new budget and we are moving forward with our very important mission, but my overarching message here with all of you is that it takes a partnership with the men and women in this room for homeland security, for hometown security, for public safety and for all of the people we as public servants represent.
The last thing I will say to you is for my part, I recognize that homeland security is a balance. It is a balance between basic physical security and our American values. The things we cherish, our civil liberties, our right to peaceably assemble, our right to travel. Diversity, the diversity we cherish. Our immigrant heritage we cherish. I like to tell audiences that I could build you a perfectly safe city. We could build higher walls. We could interrogate more people. We could erect more scanning devices. We could screen more people to create a perfectly safe space. But it would not be a shining city on a hill. It would be a prison. So homeland security must be a balance between the security of our people and the preservation of the things that we value as Americans. I look forward to working with all of you in the days ahead on our joint homeland security and public safety mission. Thank you very much and thank you for listening.
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