[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H1017-H1018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          SUPPORT PRESIDENT'S DECISION TO DEFER ON DEPORTATION

  (Mr. SMITH of Washington asked and was given permission to address 
the

[[Page H1018]]

House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
President's decision to defer the deportation of some of the 11 million 
undocumented immigrants who are in this country.
  This is a decision that every President has made, to one degree or 
another. We do not have the resources to deport everybody, so he makes 
a decision about which ones should go and shouldn't. There is nothing 
illegal about that, and the House should not be holding up the 
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill because of that 
policy issue.
  First of all, it is a policy issue best addressed by a policy 
committee, not by holding hostage an appropriations bill. There is an 
authorizing process to go through to have that fight. Secondly, and 
more importantly, the President's decision was the right one. There are 
millions upon millions of undocumented immigrants in this country who 
are valuable members of our community. They are wives and husbands. 
They are fathers. They are working productively and paying taxes. 
Tearing apart families and communities is not something that is going 
to help this country.
  I think the President made the right decision. We should support it. 
And we certainly shouldn't be shutting down the Department of Homeland 
Security in a misguided attempt to go after that policy.

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