President Trump and Republicans are Restoring Law and Order

Senator Cotton: When a criminal is convicted of a crime and locked away in prison, you would think that would put a stop to their illicit activity. Sadly, in too many tragic cases, criminals just continue their wicked ways behind bars.

That's because tens of thousands of contraband cellphones are smuggled into and throughout prisons, enabling convicted criminals to carry on with their criminal business as usual from behind bars.

Contraband cellphones in prisons pose a severe threat to public safety. After all, these convicted criminals aren't using cellphones to order takeout, check the weather, or watch NFL highlights. No, they use contraband cellphones to order hits on criminal rivals, traffic drugs, and run extortion schemes.

Convicted criminals who are sitting in a prison cell shouldn't be able to endanger correctional officers, members of law enforcement, and innocent Americans outside of prisons by using contraband cellphones. If we opt to stand idly by, we might as well hand these criminals the keys to their prison cells.

That's why I've introduced-again-the Cellphone Jamming Reform Act to allow state and federal correctional facilities to use targeted cellphone jamming equipment in prison housing facilities. The key word here is: targeted. The technology is so precise that it does not interrupt the regular communications of law enforcement or emergency first responders in the vicinity.

However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and at the end of the day, I simply care about delivering results for every Arkansan.

That's why I'm proud to support President Trump and his efforts to bring back law and order to neighborhoods and communities across our country. I applaud the Trump administration's effort to crack down on crime, and specifically, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr's announcement that the FCC will vote on a proposal allowing prisons to jam contraband cellphones for the first time.

As I'm sure many of my Republican colleagues and friends would agree, this action is both a welcome step forward and a long-overdue development. For years, I have repeatedly urged Democrats to take action-but they didn't, instead prioritizing and coddling criminals as usual.

Consider that in the final hours of the Biden presidency, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 convicted criminals, robbing hundreds of thousands of victims of the closure and justice they deserved.

To be clear, these weren't sympathetic figures. These were criminals such as: a drug dealer responsible for killing a relapsing addict; a fraudster who stole millions of dollars intended for hungry Arkansas kids in low-income families; and the so-called "cash-for-kids" judge who accepted kickbacks in exchange for his role in sending thousands of children to private detention centers.

But sadly, that's not all. Last year, just two days before Christmas, Joe Biden announced he was commuting the death sentences of 37 depraved rapists and murderers.

While we still don't know how many of these pardons were signed by Joe Biden and how many were signed by his radical aides using his autopen, this is a reminder that, unfortunately, the Democratic Party is the party of soft-on-crime.

As further evidence of this, consider the so-called George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would've handcuffed law enforcement instead of dangerous criminals. Further, consider that every single Soros prosecutor is a Democrat. And finally, consider that the jurisdictions with the worst crimes at the local level are all controlled by Democrats.

You may have heard some Democrats argue that cities with the highest homicide rates are in Republican states. But look a little closer. In almost every case, those cities-like Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; and St. Louis, Missouri- are run by Democrats.

Additionally, look at the Democratic-led Charlotte, North Carolina. Just last month, an innocent, 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee was heinously murdered by a crazed career criminal while riding a light rail train.

Thanks in part to the soft-on-crime policies of liberal former Governor Rory Cooper, this deranged murderer had been arrested 14 times, had been convicted of crimes including robbery with a dangerous weapon, and had assaulted his own sister. Yet, he was still allowed to walk free and take the life of Iryna Zarutska. I want to extend my condolences to her family and loved ones and assure them that we will pursue justice in her tragic case.

President Trump and Republicans are working on behalf of innocent individuals, like Iryna, who have a right to be safe and secure in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities.

Compare Charlotte to Washington, D.C., where more than 1,900 arrests have been made, and more than 200 illegal guns have been seized since President Trump deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement last month.

While the Democratic D.C. mayor admitted that President Trump's strategy is working, other Democrat leaders, in places like Chicago and Baltimore, are resisting assistance and putting up a big stink.

But let me remind everyone that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott aren't the ones riding public transportation alone after a long day at work, like Iryna Zarutska. They aren't the ones clutching the bottle of pepper spray in their pocket as they wait for a bus to arrive at a stop on an empty street. And they don't have to worry that their briefcase or purse will be ripped away from them as they walk to their car in a parking garage.

I'd bet that many of the 81 percent of Americans who see crime as a "major problem" in large cities worry about some of these very real threats in their day-to-day lives.

So, I invite the Democrats to wise up and join us on the right side of this issue: fighting crime and standing up for innocent Americans.

I'm pleased to stand with President Trump and my Republican colleagues to crack down on crime and ensure that every law-abiding American can live in safety, security, and freedom.