[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 175 (Wednesday, December 11, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7681-H7684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Cotton). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Garcia) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado, 
who has been having these sessions now for all the month of November. 
We began at the end of October and then have gone through the session 
in December. He has been an ardent champion of this issue. He has been 
a leader in our caucus. He has been doing the right thing, and I am 
very thankful for his efforts on our behalf.
  I want to mention that, last week, when we were doing this, the 
Speaker made a ruling of something that I probably did incorrectly in 
my speech; but I want to now yield to the gentleman from Colorado 
because he spoke for millions of those who have no voice, who cannot 
come to this floor and claim something that is so American--a system 
that works, a system that makes sense, a system that is fair to all its 
citizens, in fact, to all of its people.
  Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from Florida. I will speak briefly, 
and then I will have more later.
  Mr. Speaker, there are so many activists in our country who are 
fasting, who are sitting in offices, who are writing their 
Congresspeople, who are demanding action--action to unite their 
families, action to stop the deportations of family members--and 
answers to emerge from this indefinite state of limbo that has frozen 
the lives of so many would-be Americans that H.R. 15 and comprehensive 
immigration reform would address.
  Today, I am disappointed that our Republican friends didn't show up 
to discuss and to debate the most pressing issue of our time--
immigration reform. We extended an invitation to our friends on the 
other side of the aisle to join us today and have a discussion. Sadly, 
there is no one here to yield to. There are no solutions from the empty 
Chamber on the right. Some responded that they were double booked. 
Others responded that they had other engagements. Some simply didn't 
respond at all. The American people, Mr. Speaker, are demanding a 
response.
  Just as House Speaker Boehner plans to close for business on Friday 
while hundreds of millions of Americans continue to have to work 
another week before Christmas, we have Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, who 
will mark the 40th day of his fast for immigration reform. He is chair 
of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He will be 40 
days and nights--approaching fast--without solid food.
  As the reverend said recently:

       There are 11 million people here right now who require 
     intervention. We looked the other way when they came in. We 
     use them on our farms; we use them in our hotels; and we use 
     them in our restaurants. Then we have the audacity to deport 
     them. It is morally reprehensible to play politics with 11 
     million people.

  So said Reverend Samuel Rodriguez in his nearing his 40th day in 
fast.
  Yet, in the entire first part of the 113th Congress--in the entire 
first session, in the entire year of 2013--there was only one vote on 
the floor on any measure relating to immigration. Was it a bill that 
would address even part of the immigration problem or any piece of the 
meal that was being promised? No. It was a bill to defund DACA, to 
defund the Deferred Action program, subjecting hundreds of thousands of 
DREAMers to deportation--a bill that Republicans voted for and that 
passed in this body.

[[Page H7682]]

  Thankfully, it didn't become law. The Deferred Action program 
continues. Thank goodness that it provides at least a temporary 
reprieve for hundreds of thousands of aspiring Americans, but we owe to 
all Americans the restoring of the rule of law, allowing people to get 
on with their lives.
  I yield to my colleague from Miami (Mr. Garcia), the chief author of 
H.R. 15, the comprehensive immigration reform bill in the House.
  Mr. GARCIA. I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me here 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, we are here to discuss a vitally important issue. We 
need to pass comprehensive, commonsense immigration reform.

                              {time}  1845

  We feel the consequences of our broken immigration system every day. 
We may not agree on the best way to go about fixing it, but 
disagreement is no excuse for inaction.
  With every day that passes, millions continue to live in the shadows 
and jobs continue slipping away overseas. This is not simply just an 
issue of fairness. It is about ensuring America's economic prosperity.
  In Florida alone, legalizing those currently unauthorized to live 
would generate $1.3 billion in new tax revenue and create 97,000 new 
jobs. Fixing our broken immigration system will help small businesses 
expand, foster innovation, increase productivity, raise wages, and help 
create thousands of jobs. Comprehensive immigration reform makes all 
Americans better, makes our country richer, and creates opportunity for 
all.
  We must work together to find a solution that secures our borders, 
builds our economy, and provides a way forward for millions of 
undocumented individuals living in the United States.
  This week, a group of children dropped by my office. They were 
dropping by to express their wish for the new year. Their families have 
been ripped apart by our immigration system, and they came to deliver 
letters from a thousand children facing the same struggle. I would like 
to share one of those letters with you:

       Dear Congress,
       My name is Charlie Hoz-Pena and I am Anthony's brother. I'm 
     11 and I'm in fifth grade.
       I'm writing to tell you my worst nightmare became real. 
     Last year our dad was taken away from us and was sent to 
     Mexico. We fought really hard to get him out of jail. I went 
     to church and prayed, we did protests, vigils, wrote letters, 
     petitions and I behaved well in school. But Immigration did 
     not listen. They don't care about us.
       I even thought about killing myself because I is sad when 
     bad things happen to good people and because I love my dad 
     very much. I am very angry at Congress and Obama.
       It's really hard on me and Anthony and my mom. I love my 
     mom too and she keeps us safe and comfortable but it's really 
     hard for her too. Every time I hear her crying I feel sad, 
     she cries because she misses him. She has to find a lot of 
     jobs cleaning houses to support us.
       So Congress, please get your act together. I want 
     immigration reform please. You can do it. Do your job.
       Obama, you have the power to stop deporting people. 
     Congress, you are breaking families apart every day until you 
     pass immigration reform. You have a chance to help families. 
     So please do it now.
       What if immigration broke up your family? Would you like 
     it? Now just close your eyes and imagine your family 
     destroyed. It is not a happy thought. It is a horrible 
     feeling. It is like when somebody you care about dies. It is 
     sad because you may never see them again. I don't know how 
     long I am gonna have to wait to see my dad back. No child and 
     family should suffer like we did.
       Congress, we belong together. I hope you can understand 
     what that means.
       Sincerely,
       Charlie

  Charlie is right: we can't wait any longer. The time is now to pass 
comprehensive immigration reform.
  Although the Senate has acted in a bipartisan way to pass 
comprehensive immigration reform, the House of Representatives has not 
passed an immigration reform bill in this Congress. It is unacceptable.
  Ultimately, all of us, Democrat and Republican alike, should want the 
same things: a secure border, a stronger economy, and more jobs for the 
middle class.
  We should have a vigorous debate about this important issue, but a 
sensible one also that moves us forward. Unfortunately, that has not 
always been the case.
  Just this week, my colleague from Iowa compared allowing the 
undocumented to earn their citizenship as letting bank robbers walk 
away with the loot. This type of rhetoric has no place in this debate.
  We can do better. Our country demands we do better. Let's get this 
done. The time is now for comprehensive immigration reform.
  I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.
  Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. Speaker, what is particularly frustrating is that Congress is 
going home on December 13, not to work for the remaining 2\1/2\ weeks 
of the year. I think most Americans would love to get off a week early 
for Christmas. They don't have the opportunity to set their own 
schedule at work. So it is not like there is not time to do this, Mr. 
Speaker. We can stay here next week.
  It is not like there is not support on the floor to pass immigration 
reform, Mr. Speaker. There is. There is support today to pass H.R. 15, 
comprehensive immigration reform, brought to the floor. We could then 
send it to President Obama's desk. What a Christmas gift to our country 
that would make, a Christmas gift in the form of reducing our deficit 
by over $200 billion, creating over 6 million jobs for American 
citizens, restoring real security, and finally gaining operational 
control over our southern border and stemming the tide of people who 
are immigrating here illegally, requiring workplace authentication to 
make sure that employers no longer hire people under the table for cash 
outside of our system, strengthening Social Security and Medicare by 
making sure that people working here pay into our important programs 
that retirees stand to benefit from.
  Immigration reform is not only demanded, but widely popular. Six in 
10 Republicans support a path to citizenship for immigrants currently 
living in the United States; and a vast majority of every group--age, 
gender, ethnicity--here in this country knows that our immigration 
system is broken.
  When we look at ourselves in the mirror at night, Mr. Speaker, how 
can we be proud of a system that betrays our values as a Nation of laws 
and a Nation of immigrants, a system that rewards lawbreaking, a system 
that encourages illegal activity, a system that, as my good friend and 
colleague Ms. Lofgren from California likes to say, effectively places 
two signs at our southern border: one says ``help wanted'' and the 
other says ``keep out''?
  That is the state of our current immigration system: confusing, 
expensive, job destroying, companies can't acquire the men and women 
they need to remain competitive so they are forced to expand overseas 
in other countries in offshore jobs rather than expand here in the 
United States.
  Thankfully, Mr. Speaker, the answer is simple. Groups from across the 
spectrum--faith-based groups including evangelical and Catholic 
Americans, businesses including small family farms to large 
international companies that employ hundreds of thousands of people, 
law enforcement--all support H.R. 15. Based on the Senate bipartisan 
comprehensive immigration reform bill, that would solve all of these 
issues that we have before us, create jobs for American citizens, and 
reduce our deficit.
  And as we talk about the budget, at least frankly, Mr. Speaker, this 
week we are debating something very important for our country. In other 
weeks, my colleague, Mr. Garcia, and I have taken to the floor when 
there has been nothing that has even been done that entire time that 
had any consequence to anybody. At least this week, Mr. Speaker, we are 
discussing something important. I don't bemoan that. I think it is 
legitimate to discuss the budget of our country this week. That is why 
I think we should stay here another week and discuss immigration next 
week.

  This is an important discussion. But as we look for what we call 
``pay-fors''--how do we pay for making sure the Medicare reimbursement 
rate doesn't go down as scheduled at the end of the year, how do we pay 
for reducing the sequester, how do we pay for the investments that we 
want to make--guess what, comprehensive immigration reform would fill 
our coffers

[[Page H7683]]

with over $200 billion of revenue. Now, how about that as a pay-for for 
what we call the ``doc-fix'' and making sure we don't reduce Medicare 
reimbursement rates or any of the other items that are on the budget 
table this week?
  That is the kind of contribution that H.R. 15 and immigration reform 
can make.
  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman from Colorado. By 
the way, I love the fact you refer to me as the gentleman from Miami. I 
always thought we should have our own State.
  Let me just mention that there is a very good article that was 
written last year in July by Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. It 
sort of listed all these phoney arguments that we have.
  The first: the Senate bill is dead on arrival. We have heard this 
from the Speaker before. We have heard no agreements, no comprises. We 
heard that VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act, was going to be dead 
or, as they said, they were going to write their own. Well, of course, 
nothing came and we passed the Violence Against Women Act, which we 
should have passed earlier on.
  The second argument: the Senate bill isn't strong enough on border 
security. Well, the Senate bill spends more money on border security, 
almost an insane amount. That is why we took it out of our bill, 
because we didn't think that this House would look at such an expensive 
bill. But the question is: Is what we have better than what we are 
looking at? Of course, the answer is, no, we are not moving forward.
  This one is the one I love, but it is more of a Herman Cain type 
argument: the bill is long. This is a very complex issue and, of 
course, it is long because we are trying to solve worker issues, we are 
trying to solve innovation issues, we are trying to solve a lot of 
important things that affect us all.
  The fourth argument: the Obama administration won't enforce it. Well, 
here I have to say that Obama must be one of anti-immigration's 
favorite Presidents because he has deported more people than any 
President before. In October, I think we reached 2 million people being 
deported. That is thousands upon thousands of families destroyed; that 
is workers being taken out of the economy. That is what the President 
did.
  Mr. POLIS. Will the gentleman yield for a moment?
  Mr. GARCIA. Yes, of course, I will yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. POLIS. Each of those deportations, Mr. Speaker, cost you and I, 
cost American taxpayers, approximately $15,000. So guess who is paying 
for the 2 million deportations? Guess what is one of the growing causes 
of our deficit spending? Our broken immigration system.
  Mr. GARCIA. That is exactly right.
  Another argument: you can't bring in low-skilled workers. Well, the 
bracero program proved that when you had a functioning program illegal 
immigration went down, not up. We know that for a fact. Here is what we 
also know. When President Reagan had an immigration bill, we know that 
the salaries for the middle class and working class went up for 5 years 
in a row because it worked.
  The seventh argument: there aren't enough high-skilled workers being 
allowed in. All right, so let's write legislation that increases the 
high-skilled labor.
  ``Republicans don't need to pass immigration reform to keep their 
House seats.'' Well, if it doesn't affect their House seats, then why 
are they opposed to it? And, more importantly, this is, of course, the 
silliest of arguments when you understand the demographics. I know I 
have spoken to this with the gentleman from Colorado. When you look at 
the high water mark of a Republican Presidential race, it was achieved 
by George Bush, a pro-immigrant President; but when you look behind 
those numbers, and you look at the 44 percent that he achieved 
nationally, what you realize is he didn't receive those numbers from 
second- and third-generation Americans. He received it from first-
generation Americans voting, and voting over 50 percent for George Bush 
for President. This is something that is a commonsense thing and makes 
sense for it.
  The ninth argument: it was passed too quickly in the Senate. Well, 
unlike the House, they have had long debates on this. They had weeks of 
hearings, they had bipartisan meetings for over a year before, they had 
the commitment of the President of the Senate, the majority leader of 
the Senate to get this done.
  Look, I could go on and on; but I think what is clear is that we can 
make a lot of silly arguments, but the time has come to act. We were 
promised by the Speaker that this would be taken up and it hasn't. The 
time has come to move forward. This is the time for immigration reform. 
It is good for the country, it is good for these folks, it is good for 
everyone.
  I yield to the gentleman from Colorado.

                              {time}  1900

  Mr. POLIS. I would like to point out that my friend from Miami, 
Florida, placed out some of the arguments that we hear our friends 
making as to why immigration reform is not happening. We did not 
present those as a straw man. We invited our friends from the other 
side of the aisle to come make the arguments themselves. There is no 
one here in this Chamber, despite our invitation, to represent why we 
are not staying here next week to vote on immigration reform. So we are 
guessing why. We are guessing, saying maybe it is because they don't 
like long bills. I don't know. A short bill can be pretty bad, too, if 
it is a bad bill. You can have a good short bill or a bad short bill, a 
good long bill or a bad long bill. I mean, you know, when you want to 
address border security, you need to make sure that you devote enough 
of the bill to border security to do it.
  So we are here guessing at their reasons because our friends on the 
Republican side of the aisle are not here to explain, despite our 
invitation, why they are not bringing immigration reform up. And if 
they are not ready for H.R. 15 or comprehensive, why at least we are 
not making some kind of down payment on it next week, why we are not 
doing something, for instance, for the DREAMers, the kids that are 
currently in a deferred action program so that they can have some 
degree of certainty to get on with their lives. Why we are not making 
sure that we have working permits for the people who are already here 
and already have jobs and are an important part of our economy. We 
could be doing any of that next week. But instead, Mr. Speaker, the 
House is being sent home on vacation while most Americans have a full 
additional week to work before Christmas.
  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Caardenas), who is a hard fighter for these issues.
  I want to first relate a story. I was debating, the other day, a 
friend on this issue. He made what he thought was a commonsense 
argument. He said, Joe, if somebody broke into your house, you would 
like them to be arrested, right?
  I said: Well, the truth is, if somebody broke into my House and 
filled my refrigerator with fresh fruit and vegetables, if they took 
care of my mom and got my kid to school, if they then went outside and 
cut the lawn and painted the house, worked on the roof, I think I might 
owe them money.
  The reality is these folks are an essential part of our country. They 
make us work and they make us better.
  With that, I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. CAARDENAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I just wanted to say a few words on this floor that I am so blessed 
to be a part of this great Congress of the United States of America. 
Yet at the same time, we are a country that talks about how we believe 
in the big picture, yet at the same time we focus on the little things. 
We focus on the plight of a child. We focus on the plight of a family. 
We focus on the ability of people to pull themselves up by their own 
bootstraps. That is what we are proud of in this great country.
  But what I am not proud of is being a part of a Congress where the 
Speaker, Speaker Boehner, is not allowing comprehensive immigration 
reform to be voted for on this floor. I believe that today, if we had 
the opportunity to vote on comprehensive immigration reform in this 
Chamber, I think we have the votes to pass it. And I think if we did 
so, it would be much more consistent for us to do that than to do 
nothing, and that is what this House has been doing. We have been doing

[[Page H7684]]

nothing on comprehensive immigration reform.
  And if we did pass comprehensive immigration reform, it would be the 
biggest economic boom that our country has seen in over 60 years. There 
are too many Americans out of work. But if we pass comprehensive 
immigration reform, what we are going to see is, for every 100,000 
people in this country who are legalized, it is very likely that we 
will have 262,000 jobs occur. Do the math, ladies and gentlemen. If 
100,000 people are legalized, a certain percentage of them are going to 
create businesses, and in those businesses they are going to hire 
American citizens. Americans will go to work. That makes sense. That 
sounds like the American Dream for Americans, not just for immigrants 
who come to our country.
  One of the things that I would like to point out is, if comprehensive 
immigration reform were passed, then what would happen is the Federal 
deficit would go down by $200 billion just over the next 10 years; and 
over the subsequent 10 years, it would go down by another $700 billion. 
I think that is good for America. I think that any American, when you 
look at those numbers, would say why don't we pass that law, because 
when the economy improves, more Americans go to work.
  As was mentioned earlier by my colleague, when you have a young boy 
who is an American citizen who writes a letter to his Congressperson, 
who writes a letter to the President of the United States as an 
American citizen who is in tears by telling us, exclaiming, I miss my 
mother, I miss my father, and they have been deported, that is not an 
America that we can feel proud of. That is an America that doesn't live 
its values.
  What I say is, you know what, if in 2014 we don't vote on 
comprehensive immigration reform, why don't we just go ahead and 
dismantle the Statue of Liberty, because that is something I think, as 
your average American, we are very proud of. Bring me your huddled 
masses, your poor.
  You know what is great about this country, whether you are Italian, 
whether you are Russian, whether you are Mexican, whether you are 
English, whether you are Irish, Canadian, when you come to the United 
States of America, you make dreams come true, not just your dream, but 
you employ Americans. You create jobs for American citizens, American-
born people.
  Comprehensive immigration reform, if you try to couch it as ``those 
people,'' comprehensive immigration reform is not about ``those 
people.'' Comprehensive immigration reform is about us, Americans. It 
is about us improving our economy. It is about us doing the right 
thing. It is about us welcoming the men, women, and children who come 
to this country and work as hard as any human being will dare to do, 
and that makes our economy stronger. That makes America great.
  Ladies and gentlemen, I don't speak to you as though comprehensive 
immigration reform is an emotional issue. I speak of comprehensive 
immigration reform as an American values issue. As my colleague said 
earlier about that silly analogy, what if somebody broke into your 
house, then what would you do. I think he actually put it very well. If 
somebody painted your house, they cut your grass and took care of your 
children and your grandmother, don't you think that you owe them 
something? Don't you think you should extend your hand and say, 
Welcome. Thank you. I like what you're doing for me.
  And that is what immigrants do for our United States of America. They 
make our country stronger. This country was built on immigrants. Why in 
the world would we, as Americans, want to support the idea that they 
are ``those people'' and they are not part of who we are?
  I am only one generation away from being an immigrant myself. My 
parents came from another country. I was born in this country, and I do 
live a better life than my parents were raised in, and so do my 
children. I am proud to be an American-born citizen. And I think as 
Americans, we should be proud and expect our United States Congress to 
have a vote on comprehensive immigration reform and to give that 
opportunity to the people that you have elected to do our job. And our 
job is to make our economy stronger. Our job is to make laws that make 
this country better. Our job is to be making laws that are true to our 
values.

  Mr. GARCIA. I thank the gentleman from California for those wonderful 
words.
  I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).
  Mr. POLIS. We have the chair of my committee to file a rule here on 
the floor the House. Sadly, it is not a rule for comprehensive 
immigration reform, but it is a rule for something very important, the 
budget, which hopefully we will be able to agree on in the next 2 days. 
And as we discussed earlier before the chair of the Rules Committee 
joined us, I think we all agree that passing the budget is a very good 
use of our time here on the floor.
  Some of us, Mr. Speaker, in this hour, have talked about the need for 
immigration reform. We have in the past criticized the apparent urgency 
with which asbestos bills were somehow rushed out of committee and 
brought immediately to the floor when we weren't able to move forward 
on immigration, but this week we are working on something more 
important.
  We need to continue our work to bring up immigration reform. I am 
speaking from the side of the Chamber traditionally used by 
Republicans. I had hoped to give this spot up to a member of the 
majority party, a Republican, who we hope to continue to extend this 
invitation to debate immigration reform and bring forward an 
immigration reform bill.
  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________