Secure the Border Act of 2023
Floor Speech
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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, there is lots wrong with this bill, as has been mentioned by others, turning children back to their smugglers at the border and the like, but I will focus on the issue of those fleeing communist oppression.
For years, we had bipartisan agreement. We welcomed those who flee communist oppression. Today is Vietnam Human Rights Day and it reminds us that we welcomed a million refugees fleeing communism in Vietnam. We welcomed Cubans fleeing Fidel Castro. We welcomed Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who fled communist oppression.
This bill would upend that tradition. It would turn away people who are fleeing oppression from communist and totalitarian persecution.
Now, there was a time when both sides of the aisle opposed communism and welcomed people who were fleeing communist oppression. What happened to you?
I stand on the side of political dissidents who believe in freedom and who are fleeing communist oppression.
There is one more thing. This bill would cripple American agriculture. I realize there was a fig leaf added about an assessment on ag. We all know that will.
The bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which this House passed twice, had E-Verify in the bill, but only with the reforms for ag. I believe our laws ought to be enforced, but we need laws that can work, and that is what our bipartisan farm workforce bill did. This bill doesn't do that.
An estimated half of farm workers in America are undocumented. Kick them out of the fields, and farmers are going to hurt big time. The cost of food will skyrocket. This is a very poor idea.
I will just say this: All of us want to have an orderly system. The disorder is obvious at the border, but this bill is mean, and it won't fix it.
We have a variety of proposals to reform the immigration laws. We are still working on the outline from the 1965 act. It is a small wonder that it doesn't work very well for America in 2023.
I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill, and I urge all of my colleagues to work with us together to craft measures in immigration and immigration enforcement that will actually work for the United States. This bill doesn't do that.
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