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Floor Speech
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Ms. HIRONO.
We actually passed comprehensive immigration reform out of the Senate in 2013, and I was one of the Senators who worked on that bipartisan bill. But when the bill got to the House, it didn't pass. So we are here once again.
And more recently, there was a bipartisan immigration bill that was about to be brought to the Senate, and everything was set to go until the current President decided that he would much rather have this issue continue to not be addressed. So there you go.
We can all agree that our immigration and asylum systems need reforms, but I have serious concerns about this legislation. My colleague has stated that this bill is intended to prevent those who come to the United States in between ports of entry from applying for asylum.
But as it is drafted, this bill eliminates the section of the law that allows people present in the United States to apply for asylum. This means that it would prevent anyone, even those who have lawful status, from applying inside the United States. Instead, they would have to travel to a port of entry.
This bill would also require that anyone, including families, seeking asylum at a port of entry be arrested and held in custody for the entire time their request is pending. And it could take quite a long time, using taxpayer money, to detain them.
I certainly agree with my colleague that we need to do more to address our immigration court backlog, which includes many asylum cases, and improve our asylum system, but this legislation would not address these concerns.
Let me give you an example. This bill would prevent a Ukrainian fleeing Russian aggression who entered lawfully from applying for asylum from within the United States.
It would force them to travel with their families to a port of entry to apply for asylum. They would then be detained with their children while they wait for their application to be processed. These are individuals who have work permits and are contributing to our economy and society every day. They came here lawfully. How does making them leave and seek asylum at a port of entry improve our system? It doesn't.
Here is a reality: This bill and the recent actions by the Trump administration are not focused on truly addressing problems with our asylum system.
If the Trump administration was serious about improving our asylum system, why did they recently fire nearly two dozen impartial immigration judges without cause or notice?
They fired military veterans and expert judges who had experience processing immigration cases effectively. With a backlog of over 3.6 million immigration cases--you heard me right, 3.6 million immigration cases--we need more immigration judges, not less.
But the current leadership at the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, has said they plan to fire more judges--exactly the wrong thing to do. This is no way to address our broken immigration system.
I urge Republicans to set aside this misguided bill and to stop taking a chain saw to our Federal workforce, including immigration judges.
Believe me, this chainsaw approach to what is going on in our Federal Government, if the administration wanted to create fear and chaos, if that is their aim, they are succeeding mightily.
I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us in good faith to work on the truly comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reforms we so desperately need.
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Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I hear my colleague acknowledging that the asylum system is broken. My objections remain.
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Ms. HIRONO.
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