Homeland Security Improvement Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Madam Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the motion to recommit.
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Madam Speaker, there is no one here who better understands what is happening on the southern border than those of us who actually live on the U.S.-Mexico border. There is no one here for whom border security is more important than those of us fortunate enough to live on the southern border.
Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, American taxpayers have spent over $300 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement; and the rights of those of us who live within 100 miles of the border, and that is the southern border as well as the northern border, our rights have been eroded.
What Congress has not done is create the corresponding transparency, accountability, and oversight needed over these investments. H.R. 2203 will do that.
The Republican motion only seeks to divide us. Quite simply, this is a poison pill amendment that has no relevance to what we are trying to do here with this bill.
Some of my colleagues seem obsessed with dehumanizing immigrants, casting them as criminals to be feared and even hated.
Let me remind Members that the recent massacre in El Paso, Texas, was not carried out by an immigrant, but by a killer, a U.S. citizen who drove 600 miles across the State of Texas to slaughter Mexicans and immigrants. And he did this in one of the safest cities in America. Immigrant communities and border communities remain among the safest cities in America.
Enough.
And my Republican colleague completely misses the point of the ombudsman, the office of the ombudsman. An ombudsman is supposed to be focused on oversight related to the inner workings of the Department, not on external policy issues. This amendment is a side show that detracts from that mission.
Accountability, oversight, and transparency should not be controversial. And much of what is in this commonsense bill is precisely what we have seen embraced by law enforcement, local law enforcement in our communities. Why would we not want to have a well- funded and powerful Federal law enforcement agency adhere to those same values?
Instead of pursuing symbols of division, we ask our Republican colleagues to support fundamental accountability and oversight over the hundreds of billions of dollars we have given to DHS and support transparency for a powerful agency.
History will not judge us kindly for the way that this administration has treated migrants, agents, and border communities like mine. It will judge us in this Chamber even more harshly if we continue to call for more symbols of division.
Let us commit to responding in a way that honors our sacred credo of our country, ``E pluribus unum''--out of many, we are one.
Let us commit to responding in a way that honors our mother of exiles, the Statue of Liberty, and our heritage as a nation of immigrants. That is who we are. It is who we always will be.
Let's work together and make sure that our response is one filled with common sense and compassion.
I urge a ``no'' vote on this motion and a ``yes'' on the underlying bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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