Compassionate, Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Floor Speech
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Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, this week we plan on voting on a very strong bill known as the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act.
To better assess our immigration system and the security of our border, I went to the United States-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, this weekend. I rise today to share some of the stories I heard from our Customs and Border Patrol officers and the compassion they had for these families and children they interact with.
These agents and officers had the highest on-the-job injury rate among all law enforcement groups across the country. Additionally, these officers see some of the worst conditions and are exposed to wide-ranging health risks like scabies, lice, tuberculosis, chicken pox, and many others.
Day to day, these officers are on the front lines protecting our Nation's borders. They are often stopping drug trafficking, human trafficking, and much more. They see the worst of the worst, and put their lives on the line to secure our Nation every day. In exchange for this, they are often portrayed on the national media as cruel and are compared to unthinkable, unimaginable groups from our world's history.
This is not the experience I had with them this weekend. These officers have huge hearts, and they are often given a tough task at the border. They told me story after story of how they bring personal items like teddy bears and toys from their homes to provide to children, and oftentimes run to McDonald's and other restaurants to get food for hungry kids who had a very long, dangerous journey.
No one is denying that the situation on our Nation's border is terrible, and our agents at the border see this tragedy daily. Seeing this for myself firsthand, I quickly realized, there is no perfect fix. But it is imperative that we recognize and honor our Border Patrol agents' hard work, and do our part in Congress to pass compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform that still secures our borders and helps alleviate the situation of crisis which now exists.
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