Comprehensive Immigration Reform
The United States is a nation of immigrants, and we recognize the contributions made by Americans who came to this country from all over the world to make a new home and pursue the American Dream. That’s why House Democrats continue to work for common sense, comprehensive, and balanced immigration reform: reform that secures our borders, respects the rule of law, and provides immigrants with a fair chance of achieving the American Dream. We believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should have a chance at building a future here in America. Comprehensive immigration reform would be good for the American economy and help our fiscal outlook. House Democrats have worked to establish a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and T.P.S. and D.E.D. status holders by twice-passing the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act, which Republicans continue to obstruct in the Senate. House Democrats also passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act to reform the H-2A guestworker program to allow those contributing to our agricultural economy to remain in America. President Biden has taken action to restore the DACA program, end wasteful spending on an ineffective border wall, and reaffirm America’s values. Democrats will continue to partner with the Biden Administration to help Dreamers, fix American’s broken immigration system and ensure that it strengthens America and grows our economy.
We need to have more bipartisanship. We need to be working together. There needs to be a greater response to the President of the United States’ initiative to pass an American Jobs Act, which would create a million, over a million jobs. At least it would up our economy, would invest in our infrastructure. Keep policemen, firemen, teachers on the job in our communities. Unfortunately, the Republicans have turned a deaf ear to those initiatives to the detriment, in my opinion, of our economy and of our people.
I commend President Obama for speaking out on this important issue and I echo his call for comprehensive immigration reform that will address the millions of undocumented immigrants working and living in America today. In a competitive world, America’s openness to immigration is one of its key strengths. I am very pleased President Obama said he was going to keep fighting for the DREAM Act, long-overdue legislation which Democrats passed in the House last year and I continue to support.
When I was a Senate staffer more than a decade ago, Republicans hit on a tactic to advance school choice. They kept narrowing the eligibility standard to cover poorer and poorer families with children in only the most spectacularly failing schools, daring Democrats to vote against the most sympathetic possible group of students. I remember one liberal senator saying in exasperation, "Someday, you are going to make this impossible to oppose."
I understand that immigration is an issue that divides many of us in this House; it’s an issue that arouses more passion than most others. But the test of governing responsibly is whether, even in the face of those divisions, we can come together to make progress on the basis of principles that ought to be universal.
Hispanic Heritage Month is a time for us to reflect on the history of Latinos in this country, which dates back to the founding of our nation's oldest settlements. They have enriched our nation with their contributions to science, medicine, education, and the arts, as well as their distinguished military and public service, including service in both chambers of Congress.