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Floor Speech

Instead, Republicans only seem to believe in highlighting the challenges at our border instead of actually taking action to address them, and it is because they are prioritizing how it may impact the results at the ballot box this November. That is their goal: to stoke more and more fear of immigrants every month between now and election day.

So I have asked before, and I will ask again: My Republican colleagues, when are you ready to get serious about immigration reform?

All but ending the practice of parole and cutting off legal pathways to immigrants is not a serious approach to the immigration problem. They know it can't happen in practice, and maybe that is exactly why they are calling for it.

Let's be clear what this is and what this isn't. This is not updating the amnesty process, which is legal but in dire need of additional resources, so that we can provide due process for those who may be seeking amnesty and provide them determinations on their requests sooner rather than later.

This is not updating work visa programs, because I know that all of us are hearing from employers across industries that there is a need for additional workers to keep our economy thriving.

What we are talking about here with this measure is parole in place. Every President since Eisenhower has used the parole authority on a case-by-case basis to allow a safe and secure path for immigrants who are fleeing natural disasters or who need urgent, specialized medical care to come to the United States. That is what we are talking about. Both Republican and Democratic Presidents have used it because it is a humane way to help address global crises.

I will give you some more recent examples. We have been able to provide protections for families of our military members. We have been able to provide protections for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. We have been able to provide protections for people who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, and for Haitians, more recently, and Venezuelans and those of other nationalities seeking refuge from violence and instability in their home countries.

Taking it away will actually force more people to come to the southern border, instead of using other lawful pathways like parole to come in a more orderly way. Is that what Republicans really want-- because that is what would happen--to force more people to go to the border so they can continue to point fingers at a crisis of their own making?

The President's ability to grant parole on a case-by-case basis to people fleeing horrific and dangerous conditions is actually fundamental to America's continued leadership and our proud history of embracing strategic immigration as part of our success.

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