Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to proudly deliver my first floor speech as the new Representative for Texas' 16th Congressional District.

Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, a resilient, beautiful community along the U.S.-Mexico border, I am a proud fronteriza and know firsthand the realities of the border.

That is why I have been profoundly disturbed by the rhetoric and policies from this administration. I will use my time to tell you the truth about the border, the opportunity she represents, and the need for comprehensive immigration reform.

El Paso, like other border communities, is one of the safest communities in the country, with a rich history made strong by our bicultural, binational character. Our people are generous, compassionate, and kind.

We share a border with our sister city, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. This border unites our families and our values, and it promotes commerce and trade. The border has never been safer or more secure.

El Paso already has a wall, but we were safe long before it was constructed. The truth is that additional border barriers will not address the real challenges that we face. Instead, I hope to work with my colleagues in this Congress to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, address the root causes of migration, and value immigrants as critical to building our economy and our country.

According to the Pew Research Center, there were an estimated 10.7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States in 2016. Some came when they were small children, seeking refuge in our country, and, today, have limited protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Others have been here for decades under temporary protected status, establishing businesses and cultivating deep roots in communities across the Nation.

It is unsafe for them to return home because of ongoing strife in their home countries, but this administration decided to terminate protections for them anyway. The majority of others live in the shadows, afraid to avail themselves to assistance because of our current immigration climate.

Life for immigrants and asylum-seeking families, unfortunately, has gotten increasingly worse since January 20, 2017. This administration has cruelly separated a reported 2,654 families at the border, and these are only the families that we know of.

It has built tent prisons for children; teargassed immigrants near ports of entry, including many women and children; criminalized migration and prioritized detention; and attempted to drastically curtail the number of immigrants coming into our country.

Further, this administration's unlawful asylum ban on migrants who do not enter at ports of entry has strained our border crossings. Due to metering at ports, a practice that limits the number of people who may enter the U.S. each day, families are sometimes pushed out to more dangerous and deadly crossings.

I hope we will investigate whether metering contributed to the tragic deaths of two young Guatemalan children, Jakelin Caal Maquin and Felipe Alonzo-Gomez. These policies and practices are inhumane and un- American.

Building walls and sowing hate divide us as a nation. Instead, we must focus on reforming our immigration system to ensure a safe and humane process.

For example, we must create a pathway to citizenship for DACA and TPS recipients; make investments in additional personnel and infrastructure at our ports of entry where most illegal drugs flow; hire more immigration judges and grant them Article I independence in order to address the backlog of cases and ensure due process; overhaul training for CBP and ICE agents that will boost safety and increase oversight, transparency, and accountability; and end the criminalization of migration, especially that of asylum-seeking families.

Above all, families belong together and should not be detained, especially when there are cost-effective, humane alternatives.

Finally, for any of my colleagues who think that the border is unsafe, I invite you to my district to see it for yourself.

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