Authorizing the Speaker to Appear As Amicus Curiae on Behalf of the House

Floor Speech

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, is it true that Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush protected in excess of 1 million undocumented immigrants by executive action?

Mr. Speaker, today there are a lot of legal arguments and talk. I want to make sure the American people listening at home and watching at home know exactly what we are talking about here today.

I want to talk about somebody whose life is on pause, waiting for the DAPA program to clear the courts. The brief that the Republicans are seeking to file is the exact opposite. It is saying that DAPA cannot occur. And this gentleman and his family, Colorado constituents of mine--just to put a human face on it--show what DAPA means for so many families across our country.

Mr. Edin Ramos of Colorado--he is pictured there next to his three lovely kids and his wife--is a native of Honduras. He has been in the United States for over 13 years. His kids are American citizens, were born here, don't know any other country. He fled his home country to avoid persecution and extortion at the hands of local, corrupt officials and gangs.

He is married to a U.S. citizen. They have three young children together. He is a very successful business owner in my district. He and his wife employ 12 people. They make investments in our local community. We rely on them for jobs, for the services they provide. Yet the lack of any peace of mind prevents families like Edin Ramos' from reaching their full potential.

Every day his kids come home from school, and his wife worries over something as minor as a taillight being out or a speeding ticket, that Mr. Ramos could find himself in detention for an indefinite period of time, removed from his family, or even deported to another country which he doesn't have any ties to.

I would also like to talk about the case of Ms. Mercedes Garcia. Mercedes is a long-time resident of my hometown, Boulder, Colorado. Her life has been greatly affected by the arbitrariness of an immigration system that is immoral and has lacked meaningful priorities.

She has been in the United States for close to 20 years. She is the mother of three American children, U.S. citizen children. But you know what happened? Her husband was removed from the United States in 2011 over a traffic citation, forcing her to be the sole provider for her three children.

Now, Mercedes is undocumented herself, and she fears contact by immigration authorities on a daily basis. DAPA was a ray of hope for her. What DAPA would do is provide Mercedes with a meaningful level of certainty, the ability to legally seek employment, the ability to provide her family with expanded opportunities here in the U.S., and would help make her American citizen children as successful as they are able to be.

Her children are just as American as you or me, Mr. Speaker, as is anyone born in the United States. Don't they deserve to have their mother help them succeed with all the great promises that this country offers? Why can't we give that certainty to their mother?

DAPA is a legal, commonsense, lawful exercise of discretion. It is consistent with the actions of Presidents, both Democratic and Republican, for decades. It directs, very simply, with the limited amount of enforcement resources we have in the Department of Homeland Security, that we want to focus on removing undocumented immigrants who pose a threat to public safety or national security--not Mr. Ramos, not Ms. Garcia. We want to remove those who represent a danger or a threat to our country.

To somehow misfocus those limited resources on tearing apart families instead of going after criminals would put the American people at risk. The President has acted to make the American people safer by ensuring that our limited law enforcement resources are focused where they will have the biggest impact.

These policies are very simple. They create a process for low- priority enforcement immigrants who come forward, submit to a background check, register, be able to get a provisional work permit, and work legally. It enhances our public safety and national security.

Yet we hear people from the other side saying: Well, this is something Congress should have done. I agree. This is something Congress should have done. You know what? It is not my fault Congress didn't do it.

I have talked about immigration every week and every month here on the floor of the House. I cosponsored a comprehensive bill. I signed a discharge petition last Congress to try to bring it forward. Yes, I agree.

You know what? Congress didn't do it, Mr. Speaker. And that is on the Republican majority that Congress failed to act.

So the President moved forward with the legal authority he has and that Republican and Democratic Presidents in the past have used to say that Ms. Garcia is not the same risk to this country as a dangerous criminal.

It is common sense, and it is about time that we move forward with DAPA and DACA.

Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of Latin used on the other side. But the plain English is this vote is about ripping apart the families of my constituents, Mr. Ramos, Ms. Garcia, countless others, millions across the country. And this vote would weigh in from the House of Representatives that the House of Representatives, those who vote for this, want those families ripped apart.

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Mr. POLIS. I yield myself 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, Congress has repeatedly and explicitly passed laws delegating enforcement authority to the executive branch in the immigration context.

Through DAPA and the expansion of DACA, the Secretary of Homeland Security is simply enforcing these existing laws that have previously been passed.

Do you know what, Mr. Speaker? Words matter.

In talking about the families, like Ms. Garcia's from my district, we really know that, especially during a campaign season or when there is rhetoric on the floor, the words that those of us in elected office say matter. I found that out firsthand as I talked to some of the families in my district who have mixed status children who turn on to VTV and see some of our national politicians rail against them.

I asked permission to use stories from some of our families here today. In the past, it has always been very customary that they have said, ``Yes. If it will help to share my story, please share it with the American people. The American people will understand that I want to be with my child. What is more family oriented than that?''

Those are the values of the people. Yet, when I asked over the last few days and when my staff asked, there were many families who said no to having their stories told on the House floor.

Why? Because major, national political figures, like Donald Trump, are running for higher office and are trying to win votes by promising that they will do everything in their power to break up families like Ms. Garcia's. They promise to do everything in their power to rip apart our communities at the core, to separate American children from one or both parents. By any means necessary, they say, we will deport mothers and fathers of American children.

We are better than that, Mr. Speaker. We are better than that. DAPA and DACA are an enormous step forward.

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Mr. POLIS. I yield myself an additional 1 minute.

I find it so annoying that they argue this is Congress' job; yet the very people arguing that it is Congress' job are the people who are preventing Congress from doing its job. Thank goodness the President used his executive authority, which already exists, to move forward in prioritizing immigration cases just as President Reagan did, just as President Bush did.

If those on the other side believe that Congress should solve this, let them stop standing in the way.
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Mr. POLIS. I yield the gentleman an additional 20 seconds.

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Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, I inquire as to how much time remains on both sides.

This discussion is about my constituents, Mr. Ramos and his family. It is about keeping them together. As Mr. Gowdy says, it is about Congress not doing its job, Democrats and Republicans. In the absence of Congress doing its job, thank goodness this President or any President has used his executive authority that exists under the law, most recently in the form of DAPA and DACA, to provide some certainty to Mr. Ramos and his family so that his American kids come home from school to a loving family and so that those 12 jobs Mr. Ramos and his wife have created in our community are protected and preserved and their business is given every ability to expand.

Rather than doing the right thing by debating how to fix our broken immigration system, this Chamber is working, once again, to undermine the only significant progress that has been achieved in recent years.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution, to support the families of Ms. Garcia, of Mr. Ramos, and of so many others who are scared to be named, and to reject this approach we see today.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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