This is one of those moments that Loretta Sanchez truly loves — using her voice to blast ignorance to dust.
REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ: THIS IS NOT A BORDER SECURITY ISSUE, THIS IS A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee and former Chairwoman of the Border Security Subcommittee, today spoke at a press conference with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) discussing the recent increase in unaccompanied children along the southern border. Rep. Sanchez joined the CHC in calling for swift passage of the President’s request for emergency funds and emphasized that many of the current challenges at the border would have been addressed if last year’s Senate immigration bill had been passed in the House.
Below are her remarks as prepared for delivery.
“I have served on the House Homeland Security Committee and the Border Security Subcommittee since its inception and I can tell you one thing: This is not a “border security” problem. This is a complex humanitarian crisis that is a result of dire situations in these children’s home countries: escalating gang violence, weak government institutions, a lack of social services and economic opportunity.
“But how poorly this is being addressed on our side of the border is a result of our broken immigration system. Many of the emergency requests made by the President would not be on his wish list if we had simply passed last year’s Senate immigration bill – especially those addressing the shortage of immigration court resources and clarity of asylum and refugee provisions.
“If that bill had been brought to the floor and passed, unaccompanied minor children would be appointed lawyers to represent them. If that bill had been brought to the floor and passed, there would be funds for secure, humane alternatives to detention like electronic monitoring. If that bill had been brought to the floor and passed, there would be increased oversight of detention facilities, there would be prompt custody determinations and bond hearings and there would be better guidelines for the detention of parents and caregivers of children.
“It is all too clear from this situation that we cannot ignore our broken immigration system any longer.”
Got that?
Congressional adoption of policy. The gridlock has produced strange fruit. Tastes like—-misplaced blame. With a dash of—- incompetent fear of losing political $$$$.
I still think it’s a smoke screen for what is really going on….
#TPPA http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/can-obama-achieve-checkmate-tppa-november-kelsey/5/196130
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140711/chief-negotiators-pacific-free-trade-struggle-deals
just enforce the laws on the books and tweak the one that makes these kids refugees. it they are fleeing a country with murder and gangs at a rate less than in Chicago I would think we would help American kids in Chicago first.
Comprehensive immigration reform.
Sounds good rolling off the tongue, but what is it?
Any links to authoritative information or bills?
Try the bill passed by the Senate a year ago, which Boehner is afraid to even let his House discuss.
we don’t trust Obama to ever close the border so it will never pass. close the border first. one of his duties is to protect our borders. so just do it. then e verify, voter id, and then we can talk about how to get to the end of the line of those seeking citizenship.
I was thinking, what could we do to help my country that was devastated by the economic crash……Hey, let’s add millions of 3rd world illegal aliens. That should make things MUCH better plus if we pass amnesty we can win the Hispanic vote……you know, like we did after the Reagan amnesty and the borders will be made secure just as we were told they would be if we passed the Reagan amnesty.
The only thing passing that monster of a bill would do is 1. Have another useless large bill that not one Legislator has read and Govt Minions would make up stuff when they write the rules after it passes. 2. Be a massive waste of paper! Hey, maybe we can stack all the copies Congress would print at the border like sandbags to keep the rafts out!