Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer my amendment to this appropriations bill.

Section 235(b) of the INA requires that any individual who arrives at a U.S. port of entry and asks to apply for asylum must be granted an interview with an asylum officer. That is the law. It does not say our borders are open, but it does say that we do not turn away asylum seekers at our borders.

However, in recent months, NGOs have documented many cases where Customs and Border Protection officials have turned away asylum seekers at ports of entry. These actions are clearly prohibited by section 235(b).

My amendment would simply prevent any use of funds to violate section
235(b). Our taxpayer dollars should not be used to break the law.

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Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer my amendment to Division E of the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act.

Immigrant families in my district and across this country are terrified. They are afraid because of the things that President Trump has said and because of the policies that he has proposed.

President Trump has been clear about who he thinks immigrants are. He thinks immigrants are lazy. He thinks immigrants are unskilled. He thinks immigrants are dangerous criminals.

Just yesterday, he ended the DACA program, crushing the dreams of 800,000 talented and courageous young Americans.

He has promised to triple the number of ICE agents to build a deportation force to go into immigrant communities. Under President Obama, ICE was told to focus on detaining and deporting dangerous criminals.

But President Trump has told ICE they should go after whomever they can find.

Now, every immigrant without papers is a target, young and old. This is why immigrants are so afraid.

Democrats in Congress have been united in standing up against President Trump in his war on American immigrants. We have blocked money for the wall and for his deportation force. But we also need to put some healthy constraints on President Trump's Department of Homeland Security.

My amendment will strike section 209 of Division E, which grants the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to reprogram or transfer funds for the purpose of detaining immigrants prioritized for removal.

President Trump has made his intentions very clear. He wants to deport every one of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country no matter what those consequences may be.

With this bill as it is currently written, there is almost no limit how far he can go. Congress must stand up and make clear where we stand.

Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

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