Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, a few months ago I met two sisters from my home State. They are Mari and Adriana Barrera. These two sisters were brought here by their parents when Mari was 7 and Adriana was 3 years old. They were raised by a single mother who spoke no English after their father left the family behind.
Growing up, their mother, who worked at a local hotel, did whatever she could to support her family, but Mari and Adriana often had to depend on themselves. Unlike other children her age, Mari told me she grew up the moment her father left. She told me about how she scheduled all of her family's doctors' appointments and how she translated legal documents, and how, at the age of 13, she started working as a hostess at a local restaurant, and not for money, as most teenagers want for their own indulgences, but to support her family.
Mari also told me when she was about to enter high school Adriana had to have life-threatening surgery, and a dream was born within herself. As her sister's life hung in the balance, Mari realized she wanted to become a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. She wanted to help others the way she watched doctors help her sister that day, and she decided she would commit herself to getting the education and work toward that dream.
When I talked to Mari that day a few months ago it was just after she had been forced to drop out of the University of Washington because she could no longer afford it. Living in Seattle, she told me about how she had been unable to find a job to support her studies. Why? Because she lacks a Social Security number. Mari's dream, it turns out--the same as for many like her--has been put on hold. It has been put on hold because our immigration system remains broken. All those dreams have been put on hold because for far too long Congress has failed to act. They have been put on hold because, despite the fact that young women such as the Barrera sisters want to contribute to our Nation, our current system won't let them.
It is not only stories such as those of the Barrera sisters that point to a system badly in need of reform, I see it everywhere in my State. I see it in rural parts of my State, in cities such as Yakima and Moses Lake, where farmers can't get the seasonal agricultural workers they need to support one of our State's largest industries. I see it in big cities such as Seattle and Vancouver and Spokane, where high-tech businesses struggle to hire the world's best and brightest. I see it in neighborhoods throughout my State where families have been ripped apart by a system that forces them to choose between legal immigration and long-term separation from the people they love. I see it along our northern border in Washington State where the need to secure a long, porous border must be balanced with smart enforcement policies that don't use intimidation and fear as a weapon. And I see it in my State's LGBT community--a community that badly lacks fairness and equality under today's broken system.
But these aren't problems that cannot be fixed. Although previous reform efforts have fallen short, this Senate is not incapable of this task, especially now. And that is because today--due to the changing demographics of our Nation, because of the growing political voice of a new generation of Americans, and because of the energy, determination, and hard work of immigration advocates in my home State and across the Nation--we are at a historic moment of opportunity. For the first time in the history of this debate there is broad bipartisan agreement this system must be fixed and that a bipartisan solution is within reach.
No one in this country needs to be reminded it is a rarity here when Senators from different parties and from very different States come together to agree on common solutions to a big issue. So it is truly remarkable that over the course of the past year the bipartisan so-called Gang of 8 has worked to craft this bill that is now before the Senate. The bill we are considering is focused on four bipartisan pillars that have drawn consensus support from Members of Congress and the American people.
First of all, this bill includes a path to citizenship, so that with a lot of hard work many of the immigrants living in this country who are dreaming of citizenship can achieve that goal over time.
Second, the bill provides employers certainty in a system that has often left them without any answers.
Third, this bill will help continue the progress we have made in securing our borders by focusing on the most serious security threats and by utilizing new technology.
Finally, this bill helps to reform our legal immigration system so it meets the needs of our families and our Nation going forward.
These are all important steps. But this bill is only the beginning of a full, fair, and open public debate over reforming immigration in this country. And while it will be tempting to get caught up in the specifics of one amendment or policy in this debate, we can't forget about the larger questions this bill addresses, because at its heart this is a bill that touches nearly every aspect of American life, from our economy to our security, from our classrooms to our workplaces. It is about what type of country we want to be, what we stand for, and what type of future we all want to build.
These are the questions I have actually posed in meetings with advocates and businesses and leaders in meetings all over my State, both in recent weeks and going back many years. Those conversations have stirred a lot of passion, brought new facts to light, and helped me bring the voices of countless advocates to this debate today. They have also helped me to arrive at the core issues I believe are essential to repairing our broken immigration system--the issues I will fight for as we debate in the weeks to come.
Sitting and talking about the aspiring Americans this bill will affect has made clear that protecting families must be a central priority in comprehensive immigration reform. Immigration reform isn't just about a person's status, it is about sons and daughters and mothers and fathers and families who want to live full, productive lives together in this country. We know when workers have their families nearby they are more likely to be satisfied with their job, they are healthier, they work harder, and they contribute to our economy.
We know families are the building block of strong communities. Yet under today's broken system, family-based immigration has been pitted against employment-based immigration, and far too often immigrant families are being forced to choose between the country they love and the ones they love. I firmly believe it is in our long-term national interest to change this approach. For immigration reform to best meet our national ideals we have to keep our focus on keeping our families together, reducing these backlogs, giving women immigrants access to green cards, and reuniting immigrants with their families.
Immigration reform must also include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants residing in this country. Many of our undocumented immigrants have lived in this country for more than a decade. They are our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues. They go to church with us, they pay their taxes, and they follow our laws.
But our current system creates a permanent underclass of people that are caught between the law and earning a living. While citizenship has to be earned, it is simply not feasible to deport this entire population or expect them to return to their nation of citizenship. We certainly can't make this pathway contingent on enforcement measures that are unachieveable or unrealistic. I believe the bill before us lays the foundation for a pathway to citizenship that will bring aspiring Americans out from the shadows.
Immigration reform must also meet the needs of our changing economy. This need is perhaps best on display in my home State where the diversity of our economy creates diverse immigration needs. Washington is home to some of our Nation's largest high-tech, aerospace, and composite manufacturing firms. These are businesses that demand a robust employment-based visa system that attracts the best and brightest from across the world. However, just across the Cascade mountains lie miles and miles of fertile farmlands and orchards that demand a flexible and pragmatic agricultural worker program. I plan to support changes that help meet both of those needs while also working to invest in job opportunities for American workers through the STEM investments that are provided in this bill.
We also need a smart and humane system of securing our Nation's borders, including my State's many land border crossings. But we must balance the necessity of securing our borders and enforcing our laws with the importance of treating everyone with dignity and respect, and that includes ensuring access to due process in our immigration hearings, restrictions on the use of unnecessary restraints on pregnant women, the use of less costly alternatives to detention whenever possible, and humane conditions and strict oversight and reporting requirements at our detention centers.
Our strategy for enforcement and border security should focus on keeping Americans safe, fighting violent crime, reducing smuggling, and stopping terrorists. We should always be doing it in a way that upholds our commitment to civil liberties and the rights of every American.
Finally, I strongly support efforts to craft a system that will unite families by extending immigration sponsorship privileges for married binational LGBT couples. I was very proud of my home State of Washington when it voted last year for marriage equality. However, my heart breaks because each time a binational LGBT married Washingtonian is split apart because their marriage is not recognized by the Federal Government, it is just not right.
The Defense of Marriage Act has long barred equal immigration sponsorship privileges for married binational LGBT couples. While I am hopeful the Supreme Court will strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, I believe we should also move decisively to include these provisions in this bill.
These are certainly not the only priorities I will be fighting for in the coming days. In fact, I am hoping to offer some amendments that will help open new doors to education for our DREAMers and that will expand investment in our STEM education. But I also know we will see amendments that will attempt to weaken and defeat this bill altogether, because as we saw in the exhaustive and inclusive committee process, there are those who are simply bent on standing in the way of a bill that Americans want and our economy needs--those who will say or do anything to defeat this bill.
But I am confident this is a new day for immigration reform. I am confident of that because more Americans than ever before see the benefits of a modern immigration system that is coupled with the investments that help our families succeed. They see we are stronger when immigrant workers are contributing to our economy, when employers have the resources they need to grow, and when a path to citizenship is available to those who are already here.
Too often in this debate it is difficult for some people to understand that the millio ns of undocumented families in our country are already an important part of our communities. Immigrants work hard. They send their children to schools throughout this country. They pay their taxes, and they help weave the fabric of our society. In all but name they are Americans.
When John F. Kennedy was serving in this Chamber, he wrote a book about the fact that America is a nation of immigrants. In it, he wrote:
Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience.
Today, those words continue to ring true. It is not only the world we have to turn to. This effort is about living up to our own ideals. It is about, as then-Senator Kennedy said, living up to our own past.
Our history has long been that of a beacon of hope for people throughout the world, from those who arrived at Ellis Island to start a new life decades ago to the DREAMers who want to contribute to the country they love today.
As we once again take on this very difficult task of reforming our immigration policy, let's make sure our actions reflect our security, our economy, and our future. But let's also never forget the past and the fact that our Nation has long offered generations of immigrants the chance to achieve their dreams.
I yield the floor.
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