Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, our job as legislators is to listen to each other and find common ground, to compromise for the good of the American people.

Today, Trump Republicans are trying to do comprehensive immigration reform without any committee hearings with Democrats, with no consultation. This is a spectacle trying to pass legislation on such an important subject in such a haphazard and slipshod manner.

Congress can certainly do better than this, and the American people deserve better than this.

Never again should these Trump Republicans ever claim that they adhere to regular order. The integrity of our process in this House depends upon careful consideration of bills through regular order so that only thoughtful legislation is passed.

In our consideration of important legislation, the debate and the ability to compromise are essential. Sadly, I fear that we have lost the ability to engage in honest debate and we have lost the will to compromise.

Though the ability to compromise is important, we Democrats can't agree to lock up children in cages. We can't agree to a bill that leaves Dreamers behind. Compromise does not allow us to turn our backs on asylum seekers or to stop family immigration or to kill the diversity visa program or waste billions of dollars building Trump's border wall. This bill does all those things.

We have a national crisis on our hands, and as we speak, 2,300 children have been torn away from the arms of their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, and it is our job to remedy this disgrace and reunite these families.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues not to support the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act. A bipartisan solution is out there, but clearly this bill is not it.

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