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The house chairmen’s plan for immigration reform |
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January 10, 2018 |
In my capacity as chairman of the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security,
today I am joining three distinguished
colleagues in introducing sweeping legislation
to fix our broken immigration system.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte,
R-Virginia, Homeland Security Chairman Michael
McCaul, R-Texas, and Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security
Chairwoman Martha McSally, R-Arizona, and I have
authored a conservative measure to strengthen
our borders, enhance interior enforcement and
make America more secure.
Tuesday night, The Wall Street Journal published
an op-ed authored by the four sponsors. This is
that letter.
The borders are not secure, the laws seldom
enforced. Our bill would change that.
This article is signed by Representatives Bob
Goodlatte, Michael McCaul, Raul Labrador and
Martha McSally.
For far too long, America’s immigration system
has been in shambles. The borders are not secure
and laws are seldom enforced. This dysfunction
allows drug smugglers to creep into the U.S. and
exacerbate the opioid epidemic. It provides
human traffickers the opportunity to exploit
forced labor for profit, invites transnational
gangs like MS-13 to inflict violence on American
neighborhoods, and offers terrorists a way into
the country.
In a time when America’s enemies are seeking new
ways to strike the homeland, a failed
immigration system is unacceptable. On Wednesday
we will introduce legislation in the House to
strengthen the border and enhance interior
enforcements, making America more secure.
A priority of our legislation is to increase the
security of the southern border. Our bill would
provide $30 billion to build a wall, to invest
in new technology, and to improve, modernize and
expand ports of entry. It would add boots on the
ground: an additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents
and 5,000 Customs and Border Protection
officers. It would provide for the construction
of additional ports of entry and a full
implementation of the biometric entry-exit
system, while authorizing the National Guard to
provide aviation and intelligence support.
Even once the border is secure, immigration law
requires significant changes to bring illegal
immigration fully under control. Almost half of
illegal aliens entered the U.S. legally on
tourist and other short-term visas and simply
never left. We must turn off the irresistible
“jobs magnet” and ensure that immigration laws
are effectively enforced within the U.S.
Our bill would achieve these goals by cracking
down on people who overstay their visas, by
requiring employers to use the accurate and
hugely successful E-Verify system to ensure that
they hire only legal workers, and by making it
easier to deport aliens who are gang members,
who are aggravated felons, who fail to register
as sex offenders, or who have multiple DUIs.
Our bill would put an end to chain migration,
the process by which citizens and green-card
holders can sponsor extended family members for
their own green cards (who in turn can
eventually sponsor their own extended family
members, ad infinitum). It also would stop the
Diversity Visa program, which awards green cards
by random lottery to people with no ties to the
U.S. Neither of these programs prioritizes the
skills of people entering the country.
The U.S. is the most generous and welcoming
nation in the world, accepting on average more
than a million new immigrants every year. But a
steady influx of low-skilled labor has depressed
wages for workers here at home. That is not
putting America first.
These programs have opened our doors to
terrorists. The attack in New York City last
Halloween that left eight dead and 11 injured
was carried out by Sayfullo Saipov, a man from
Uzbekistan who entered the U.S. through the
Diversity Visa program. One month later, Akayed
Ullah, a man from Bangladesh who arrived through
chain migration, carried out another attack in
New York. These attacks prove that the current
system is failing.
Our proposal allows the Justice Department to
withhold grants from “sanctuary
cities”—jurisdictions that refuse to allow their
law-enforcement officers to cooperate with
federal immigration authorities, even to the
point of preventing Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers from entering local jails
to take custody of criminal aliens. Sanctuary
cities put innocent lives at risk.
In 2015, many people learned the story of Jose
Ines Garcia Zarate, who had been deported on
five previous occasions before he was released
by San Francisco authorities. He went on to
shoot and kill an innocent young woman. Any
immigration system that fails to protect the
American people has to change.
Finally, as requested by President Trump, our
bill provides a legislative solution for the
beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program, who were brought to
the U.S. illegally as minors. DACA was first
imposed through an unconstitutional abuse of
executive power by President Obama in 2012. The
Constitution specifically delegates the power to
make immigration law to Congress.
Our bill would allow DACA beneficiaries to
receive a three-year renewable legal status,
codifying the program the right way—by a duly
enacted statute. But to be clear, there is no
new or special path to citizenship for these
individuals in our bill.
Importantly, our bill will help ensure that the
distressing DACA dilemma does not recur after a
few short years. The legislation would end
“catch and release,” battle asylum fraud and
require that unaccompanied minors caught at the
border be treated equally regardless of their
home country. Together this will ensure that the
law no longer tempts minors and their parents to
make the dangerous illegal journey to the
U.S.—or to line the pockets of cartels that make
a business of supporting these journeys.
Americans have been debating how to best fix the
country’s immigration system for decades.
Congress has a unique opportunity to act now,
before the country ends up with another large
population who crossed the border illegally as
children. Let’s take this historic moment to
come together and support vital legislation that
provides common-sense, reasonable solutions.
The American people have been waiting a long
time for their leaders to step up, get the job
done, and better protect America. It’s time to
deliver.
Mr. Goodlatte represents Virginia’s Sixth
Congressional District and is chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee. Mr. McCaul represents
Texas’ 10th District and is chairman of the
Homeland Security Committee. Mr. Labrador
represents Idaho’s First District and is
chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on
Immigration and Border Security. Ms. McSally
represents Arizona’s Second District and is
chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee
on Border and Maritime Security. |
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