Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Madam Chair, my amendment adds $1 million to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, EOIR, and is offset through the Department of Justice salaries and expenses account.

Now, I really do want to acknowledge the committee for their great work in increasing funding for the EOIR for this fiscal year, but even with this increase, Madam Chair, funding is still woefully short of the President's request. This bill doesn't nearly go far enough to address the crisis our immigration courts face today.

This House has spared no expense--no expense--when it comes to throwing money at our failed enforcement-only immigration system. Since we are spending about $18 billion a year on enforcement, we are detaining and deporting immigrants at record levels. An estimated 1,000 deportations take place each day. Yet, Madam Chair, we have done little to nothing to ensure that our Nation's immigration courts keep up with that pace, let alone fix many of these problems. This is one more example to demonstrate why we should have passed comprehensive immigration reform this year.

But that having been said, this amendment seeks to address that disparity. This mismatch, Madam Chair, between immigration review resources and aggressive enforcement efforts has created a backlog of over 366,000 cases in our immigration courts. The average wait for a hearing is over 570 days.

Many justified--justified--immigration relief and asylum seekers can find themselves waiting years in limbo. And these unacceptable delays waste taxpayer dollars by keeping people in detention.

Moreover, our tradition of due process is in serious jeopardy. EOIR has been forced to do everything in its power to accommodate their dockets, but only so much can be done without sacrificing essential aspects of the court.

Now, Madam Chair, in February, a Washington Post article described the day-to-day world of one of our immigration courts, where a judge had, on average, 7 minutes to decide each case: 7 minutes to decide whether to deport a person who might be eligible for asylum because they could be killed if they are sent back to their home country; 7 minutes for a judge to decide if a child will grow up without that father or mother--7 minutes. One judge described it in testimony before Congress: It is like doing death penalty cases in a traffic court setting.

My amendment also highlights the need to fund and expand the Legal Orientation Program. This important program gives detainees basic legal information, makes our system more efficient, and strengthens due process.

About 41 percent of those awaiting hearings before an immigration judge don't have legal representation. Children, Madam Chair, would benefit from this. In March of 2014, a U.N. refugee agency report cited a strong link between instability and violence in the Americas region and the new displacement patterns of children fleeing northward. Yet these children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, are so vulnerable, but they are less likely to have legal advice and counsel, our notion of guardian ad litem, to help them navigate the complex immigration laws. This is so important, Madam Chair. I hope we can work together to expand it.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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