Securing America's Future Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I strongly oppose H.R. 4760.

This legislation is nothing more than a wish-list of the far right anti-immigrant fringe. It would do nothing to solve the real problems plaguing our immigration system, while causing untold suffering for millions of people.

The world has watched President Trump create a family separation crisis out of thin air. I personally met with fathers whose children had been ripped from their arms, who have no idea when, or if, they will ever see their children again.

One father I spoke to was promised he would be kept with his young child, only to have officers enter his room in the middle of the night and forcibly take away his young daughter.

We have all seen the anguished faces of the parents separated from their children, and listened to the desperate cries of sobbing children screaming for their parents. This is government-sponsored child abuse.

This bill does absolutely nothing to solve the crisis. The President, after falsely claiming that he had no choice but to enact this cruel and brutal policy, now says he will end it, proving that he and his administration were lying all along. But it is not clear that yesterday's executive order immediately ends family separation. It also puts our country on a dangerous path to prolonged detention for parents and children.

The Keeping Families Together Act, which I introduced this week, along with virtually every Democratic Member, would actually prevent children from being separated from their parents, except in extraordinary circumstances.

We could vote on that legislation today. But instead, we have this bill before us now. This bill turns all undocumented immigrants into criminals. It takes particular aim at families, children, workers, businesses, public safety, and our fundamental values as a nation, all at once. It is almost impressive how many bad ideas have been crammed into one comprehensive package.

For example, it eliminates most visa categories that promote family reunification, as well as the diversity visa program, which provides residents of many countries the only method of immigrating to the United States. It removes critical protections for unaccompanied children, and it does away with other important safeguards for children traveling with their parents.

It would decimate the agriculture community by requiring employers to use the E-Verify employment verification system without fixing the underlying immigration system. And it would undercut American workers by importing guestworkers at drastically depressed wages.

It would also undermine our asylum system, breaking with our proud tradition of being a beacon of hope and freedom for the oppressed.

In exchange for all these harsh, anti-immigrant provisions, it offers the most minimal protections to Dreamers, creating a renewable temporary status with no path to citizenship, leaving them in perpetual limbo, and unable to become full members of society in the only country they have ever known.

This is an act of extortion we cannot abide. This bill fails to repair our broken immigration system and, indeed, in many ways, makes it even worse, and all without substantially helping the Dreamers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the distinguished ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee.

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Lawrence).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee.

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Judy Chu).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, this afternoon, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent an alert to Members of Congress that says the cuts to legal immigration in this bill are bad news for States.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

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Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green).

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

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Mr. NADLER. Lofgren), the ranking member of the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee.
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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. Speaker, this bill is a harsh anti-immigrant package that fails to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and that fails to end family separation, while slashing legal immigration, crippling our agriculture industry, criminalizing undocumented immigrants, undermining public safety, and removing critical protection for families and children, all in one monstrous bill.

Mr. Speaker, there is no justification for anyone voting for this bill. I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

A recorded vote was ordered.

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