Supporting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Floor Speech

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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I support fair and humane enforcement of our immigration laws, but that is not what this resolution is about. It is nothing but a ploy to distract us from critical issues facing our country.

A most urgent issue now is the need to reunify thousands of children, including babies, who were forcefully torn from their parents' arms at the border. Despite court orders requiring reunification, more than 2,000 remain separated from their parents.

This bill does nothing to address that humanitarian crisis, a crisis created by President Trump's so-called zero-tolerance policy.

The bill does nothing, for example, to more quickly reunify children like Jefferson, a 6-year-old boy taken from his father after traveling together from Guatemala, seeking asylum. They were kept apart for almost 2 heart-wrenching months.

When they were finally reunified 3 days ago, the traumatic effects of the separation were clear. Jefferson was unemotional, with a vacant look in his eyes. He thought, for those 2 excruciating months, that his father no longer loved him or that he was dead.

Jefferson had a cough, bruises, and a rash all over his body. It is not clear whether Jefferson will ever fully recover emotionally.

There are many more kids like Jefferson who remain separated from their parents.

As Members of Congress, we can't sit on the sidelines as witnesses to government-sponsored child abuse. We must take concrete steps to end this tragedy and pass legislation to prevent it from ever happening again, and this resolution doesn't do that. This resolution does not even acknowledge the plight of babies separated from their mothers, nor does it make any recommendations for family reunification.

This resolution is nothing more than a feeble attempt at political gamesmanship. The resolution shows the Republican majority is unwilling to solve our immigration crisis, just as they are unwilling to tackle rising healthcare costs, wage stagnation, a pending trade war, and the President's lovefest with Russia.

With a little more than a week left before the August recess, the Republican majority is more interested in political games than actually governing.

Rather than doing anything meaningful for the American people, we are wasting our time on a political stunt. It is just shameful. I refuse to play this game. I intend to vote ``present'' on this meaningless resolution and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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