{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=00B9270F-4D4E-4AE4-B102-1E703D02987B", "Murders Spiking, Border in Crisis, But Biden DOJ Targets Parents", "2021-10-28", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the rule of law:\n\n\u201cYesterday brought reports that carjackings in my hometown of Louisville were up 150% since 2019. And the city\u2019s 2021 murder total is rapidly closing in on the all-time record we just set last year.\n\n\u201cThese aren\u2019t just local problems. They\u2019re national trends. 2020 saw the U.S. homicide rate jump more than at any point in over a century. The worst spike in the murder rate in more than 100 years.\n\n\u201cThe law enforcement crises don\u2019t stop there. Our southern border saw more illegal crossings last year than in any year on record, yet ICE has made its fewest interior arrests in a decade.\n\n\u201cA crime epidemic and a border crisis. These are the sort of problems you might expect the nation\u2019s top law enforcement officer to face head-on. These are the sort of issues that should keep the Department of Justice up all night.\n\n\u201cBut Attorney General Garland has other priorities.\n\n\u201cThe AG made waves this month with a bizarre memo that directed the FBI and along with the DOJ\u2019s Criminal, National Security, and Civil Rights divisions to focus special attention and scrutiny on parents who have opinions about their local school boards.\n\n\u201cYesterday, under questioning from the Judiciary Committee, the Attorney General seemed incapable of giving a satisfactory explanation as to why the parents of America are his A-1 priority.\n\n\u201cNor could he explain why his bizarre guidance came just days after a powerful interest group sent a letter demanding this action.\n\n\u201cActually, the interest group has already apologized for that letter. They say they regret sending it. But the Attorney General won\u2019t budge from his shocking guidance even after the special interests that asked for it have backed away! Apparently, the instant that special interests ask the Biden Administration to jump, this Attorney General responds \u2018How high?\u2019\n\n\u201cThe Attorney General insisted that all his Department is concerned about is, \u2018violence and threats of violence.\u2019 Of course violence and threats are always wrong. They are also already illegal, and already the purview of local law enforcement.\n\n\u201cThere is no evidence that America\u2019s concerned parents needed to be singled out as targets of this J. Edgar Hoover act from the feds.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats at the local, state, and federal levels want fewer concerned parents showing up at school board meetings, the solution is to stop indoctrinating their kids with crazy messages on the taxpayers\u2019 dime.\n\n\u201cNot trying to use federal law enforcement to frighten families out of their First Amendment rights.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=00B9270F-4D4E-4AE4-B102-1E703D02987B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9744497947394848, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}