[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1204-H1207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Garrett) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. GARRETT. Madam Speaker, it is a somber time to come into this 
Chamber as we have colleagues at the other end of the building who 
formed something they call the Common Sense Coalition, which is, I 
think, a gentle euphemism like so many things in this town are, which 
might well be called the ``kick the can down the road'' coalition, the 
``doing the same thing again and again and again and again and 
expecting a different result'' coalition, or the ``those who do not 
learn from the past are doomed to repeat it'' coalition.
  The photo that is to my left and to your right if you are viewing at 
home is of me at a ceremony at Red Hill Farm in the Fifth District of 
Virginia, where a man named Patrick Henry lived.
  Patrick Henry is notable as an early patriot who sought to ensure the 
blessings of self-determination and liberty for a fledgling nation that 
determined that it was unjust that they should be governed by edict 
from across the sea and most notably said the words: ``I know not what 
course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me 
death.''

  Indeed, anyone who signed the Declaration of Independence understood 
at that time that they were literally signing their own death warrant, 
yet they did because it was the right thing to do.
  Today we have degenerated into a political class that knows pandering 
and efforts to placate individuals without the interests of the mass 
constituency that we all unitedly serve, and that is the American 
people.
  In fact, when Patrick Henry spoke about liberty one day in a separate 
speech, from the back of the room, someone shouted, ``Treason,'' and 
Henry responded eloquently: ``If this be treason, make the most of 
it.''
  What has happened to our leaders?
  So that day I spoke to a group of a couple of dozen new Americans 
from every corner of the world--from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, 
Europe, and South America--who had, in some instances, worked decades 
to become Americans and to earn those blessings of liberty gained for 
us by people like Patrick Henry, like 1 million nameless faces who died 
of combat death, disease, or starvation during a war to end the 
horrific institution of slavery, and like Abraham Lincoln and Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr.
  So they, indeed, looked like America--Brown people, White people, 
Black people, Asian people, American people--and they earned it. But 
what is coming out of the Senate now essentially throws aside the 
sacrifices of so many in order to score political points.
  It was, indeed, one of the greatest honors of my life to welcome 
those new brothers and sisters to our American family. Yet the process 
through which they pained and labored does not in any way mirror the 
process that we would continue by kicking the can down the road under 
the proposed Senate ``compromise.''
  I could really, literally, do this all day, all week, all month, and 
all year if I wanted to highlight the cases of individuals who had lost 
their lives because our Federal Government is completely unwilling to 
enforce the laws that it currently has on the books.

                              {time}  1245

  Many of you recognize the lovely face of Kate Steinle, who was 
enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the Embarcadero district of San 
Francisco on pier 14 with her dad. A graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis 
Obispo, she worked in the medical field and had recently moved in with 
her boyfriend when an illegal who had been deported 5 times, who the 
local government refused to turn over to Federal authorities, 
discharged a weapon that he stole from a member of law enforcement at 
what he said was a sea lion--which is bad enough--and killed this 
lovely young woman whom her friends say loved yoga and helping others.
  Reports indicate that among her last words was a plea to her father 
to please help. She passed away because we refuse to enforce our law.
  Edwin Jackson, a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, was born in 
the same town that I was: Atlanta, Georgia. He didn't have big-time 
football offers out of high school. Indeed, instead of the University 
of Georgia or Florida or Clemson, he matriculated to Georgia Southern 
University. But he worked, and he worked with an optimism that radiated 
from the very smile on his face.

[[Page H1205]]

  And not long ago, Edwin Jackson became one of nearly 1,000 people per 
year who die in alcohol-related accidents involving people in this 
country illegally; as well as his Uber driver, Jeffrey Monroe, who 
should also be noted. Edwin Jackson's obituary indicated that his 
greatest goal in life was to be a positive role model for young people 
to overcome challenges.
  The individual who was detained had a blood alcohol content of .239, 
or nearly three times the legal limit. He had been deported twice 
before, tried to run from the scene, and lied to police officers about 
his name upon his apprehension.
  Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe are dead because we refuse to 
enforce our laws.
  Denise Mosier, in my home State of Virginia, in 2010, was riding in a 
van with two other nuns from the 33-women monastery where she made her 
home, aspiring to help people. Her two dear friends were horrifically 
injured in an accident that took Miss Mosier's life. This Benedictine 
nun had devoted her life to the service of others. Quite literally, you 
could find nothing bad that anyone could say about this woman.
  The driver who took her life was ultimately charged with DUI third or 
subsequent offense. He had arrived illegally in this country and was 
only weeks away from a deportation hearing, which he was only having 
because of his multiple prior arrests for driving under the influence.
  Tragically, our unwillingness to enforce our own laws cost about 10 
percent of the community at the monastery where Denise Mosier made her 
home dearly and cost about 4 percent their life.
  In fact, 13 percent of all drunk drivers arrested in the United 
States every year are here illegally--13 percent of 1.5 million. And 
the death toll of drunk-driving-related offenses in this country is 
about 10,000 per year. So extrapolating those numbers, nearly 1,000 
people per year are killed in alcohol-related accidents involving those 
here illegally. And we refuse to enforce our own laws.
  Peter Hacking was a volunteer fire department captain in Texas. One 
afternoon not long ago, Peter stopped off Highway 78 to pick up his 
children, which included 4-year-old Ellie and a son who was 2, when 
they were killed by a previously deported drunk driver, who ultimately 
received a sentence of about 2 years, and who was here because we will 
not secure our border and we will not enforce our laws.
  Let me be clear: those two dozen or so individuals whom I had the 
great honor--of all faiths and all creeds from around the world--of 
welcoming into our American family are American just like everyone 
watching this today. But those who are not here legally, who will not 
go through the processes prescribed by this very body, are a discredit 
to those who work so hard and those who have sacrificed so much to make 
this Nation the beacon of freedom that it is. And no nation of laws can 
perpetuate itself so long as it looks the other way as its laws are 
selectively enforced and not enforced.
  Tessa Tranchant, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, was riding with a 
girlfriend and killed by a drunk driver here illegally.
  Danny Oliver and Michael Davis were law enforcement professionals 
from Sacramento, California. They were murdered by a frequently 
deported individual who swears that he will find a way to kill more 
police officers.
  Dominic Durden was killed while riding his motorcycle by an illegal 
drunk driver.
  Jamiel Shaw was brutally shot and murdered by an illegal.
  Marilyn Pharis, who devoted her life to the service of this Nation in 
the United States Air Force, was beaten, tortured, raped, and murdered 
by an illegal who had been arrested 6 times in 15 months, the most 
recent time being 8 days before this crime was perpetrated but not 
reported to Federal authorities because the sanctuary community that 
she was in did not deem it worthy to report.
  I want to see a healthy and robust immigration system into this 
country, legally. I want to live in a nation that enforces the very 
laws that these bodies pass to protect those people who we are tasked 
with serving, the American people, be they naturalized or native born.
  I literally could keep telling these stories for weeks and weeks and 
weeks.
  So we now find fiscal responsibility a rallying cry from individuals 
who don't seem to care about that at any point in time except for when 
it is convenient to their political agenda. We have a President in the 
White House who suggested that we would build a border wall and we 
would have those who are responsible for the immigration problem pay 
for it. We have a media that glowingly and gleefully pokes fun and 
asks: How is that plan going for you?
  Well, I have a proposal. About 92 percent of foreign nationals in 
U.S. Federal prisons are here illegally. That is over 9 out of 10. That 
comes out to about 34,500 inmates in our Federal prison system here 
illegally. And they are not here for immigration violations. They are 
here for robbery; they are here for rape; they are here for murder.

  The cost to incarcerate one individual in the Federal prison system 
annually is about $32,500. I'm not that good at math, but that comes 
out to about $1.1 billion per year. If you move away from the Federal 
prison system and extrapolate those numbers across the State prison 
systems, you are looking at something like $9.5 billion per year to 
incarcerate illegals here convicted of violent crimes, felonies. We are 
talking about prisons, not jails.
  Now, the Senate plan says: Okay. Well, what we are going to do is we 
are going to spend $18 billion over 10 years.
  I will tell you what. If we can just secure the Southern border and 
stop the inflow of illegals, we could reduce our Federal and State 
prison expenditures by about $9.5 billion a year, and I'll get you your 
$18 billion in 2 years.
  In other words, you want to pay for this wall?
  Build it; it will pay for itself. And that is in dollars and cents.
  But, folks, how do you quantify the lives of these people?
  How do you put a dollar value on the life of a woman who spent her 
entire life serving our country and was tortured, raped, and murdered 
by someone who had been arrested just 6 days before and, under the 
Federal law, should have been reported to Federal authorities, but they 
didn't think it was necessary in California?
  Or Jamiel, is there a dollar value you can put on this young man's 
life?
  How do you quantify these lives? How about these law enforcement 
professionals? How about this teenage girl from Virginia Beach, 
Virginia? How about a firefighter and father of a 22-month-old and a 4-
year-old? How about a nun who devoted her entire life to serving 
others? How about a football player who worked his way up from the 
bottom and only wanted to motivate and inspire young people who faced 
challenging circumstances?
  I genuinely love my brothers and sisters of all races, creeds, and 
origins; I genuinely do. I welcome them to apply to a process to allow 
them to avail themselves of the benefits of, I believe, the greatest 
Nation the Earth has ever seen. Winston Churchill said: ``Democracy was 
the worst form of government, except for all the others.'' This is the 
worst country in the world, except for all the others.
  But if we won't enforce the laws that we pass, who are we? What have 
we become? And if we won't protect those people who protect us--
firefighters, police officers, nuns, and mothers--how can we look at 
ourselves?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd).
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from Virginia 
for yielding. I really thank him for his leadership on this issue.
  The last time I spoke on this floor on immigration, I talked about 
three principles: One, Americans have the right to determine who 
becomes citizens through laws; two, the people who do come here should 
be in the best interest of American citizens; and three, that we have 
the right to enforce those choices.
  The people who do come here should be in the best interest of 
American citizens. That is key. What we are doing now isn't there yet. 
We allow, today, one individual to get a green card. Then he is able to 
sponsor his immediate family and relatives. And then the relatives can 
sponsor their relatives. Then the relatives of those relatives can 
sponsor their relatives and so on, until there is no one in the family 
left to sponsor or no one left who

[[Page H1206]]

even wants to come to the United States.
  Potentially, this could go on forever. This is called chain 
migration, and 65 percent of our green cards are awarded through this 
chain migration. That is about 700,000 people every year gaining 
permanent residence in our country through no other criteria than that 
they happen to be related to someone who lives here.
  We have no idea whether these individuals are going to be 
economically successful. We have no idea whether they will contribute 
to our country. We don't even look at those characteristics for chain 
migration. The important question is who the immigrant is related to, 
not whether or not he might help America be a safer or a more 
prosperous country. Chain migration does not meet that key principle. 
American immigration should be in the best interest of Americans.
  The Securing America's Future Act ends this chain migration. It stops 
it for everyone except the children and spouses of immigrants. But 
those relatives cannot bring in additional immigrants, so the chain is 
broken. The Securing America's Future Act, in turn, replaces those 
immigrants with skilled workers, workers who could help us build a 
better future.
  I think about it this way: there are 150 million people around the 
world who would say that they would emigrate to the United States if 
they were just given the opportunity. What a great country. We could do 
what we do now and let those people enter on the basis of who they are 
related to. That is what we are doing. Or we could let in the best 
engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, and businessmen. We can let in 
those who could speak English well, who know our system of government, 
who have gone to university. But that can only happen if we end chain 
migration.
  The chain migration proposal in the Securing America's Future Act 
becomes even more crucial when we look at the DACA issue. If we allow 
DACA recipients to get some form of residency, past history tells us 
that they will potentially sponsor around 3\1/2\ immigrants each. That 
is a 2- to 3-million-person increase in the immigrant population. That 
is a huge incentive for future immigrants to come here illegally.

                              {time}  1300

  The notion that you will get to bring your whole family over here if 
you manage to enter illegally is part of what led to the 2013-2014 
border crisis. When the previous administration was rumored to be 
granting amnesty, tens of thousands of Latin American families sent 
their minor children north.
  It was a national emergency, and it overwhelmed the Border Patrol and 
the immigrant processing facilities there in the Southwest. We had to 
pass emergency appropriations just to process these individuals. Any 
DACA fix that does not also include additional border security and 
protections against those migrating this way, they could really see a 
similar crisis.
  Madam Speaker, the Securing America's Future Act is an incredible 
piece of legislation. And while I have dwelt on its chain migration 
provisions--and there are many more worthy reforms--this bill cracks 
down on sanctuary cities, which my colleague mentioned earlier. It 
includes Kate's Law to toughen penalties against those who are 
deported, come back to the United States, and commit crimes. It 
includes mandatory E-Verify to crack down on businesses that break the 
law. It ends the diversity visa lottery, one of the most senseless 
Federal policies that I can think of.
  I thank Chairman Goodlatte for his efforts on this; I thank 
Representative Labrador, one of our staunchest conservative leaders in 
the House, for his leadership in crafting this bill; and I thank 
Representative Garrett for organizing this opportunity to discuss the 
bill.
  Mr. GARRETT. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Budd for his 
comments.
  At this time, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida, (Mr. 
Yoho).
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my good colleague from 
Virginia (Mr. Garrett) and everybody else who has participated in this 
important topic.
  For far too long, Washington has allowed our broken immigration 
system to fester. Since 1986, when safeguards were put in place to 
protect our Nation from illegal immigration, we have seen the rule of 
law not followed, and it has led to the situation we have today. This 
is not an overnight sensation that just has happened.
  If you look at the number one role of government, it is to provide 
for the common defense of our Nation and the security of our Nation. 
Madam Speaker, you cannot have a secure nation if you don't have secure 
borders. That is one of the reasons we lock our car doors. That is one 
of the reasons we lock our house doors is to secure our family.
  Well, the government's role is to secure their Nation and the people 
within it so that we can have a secure nation, the peace of mind that 
our families are protected from people that shouldn't be here in the 
first place. We need to reform our system so that we have legal 
immigration that is not burdensome to the point where it doesn't work, 
and that is what Washington has been well known for. We need to seek 
real reforms that cut down on illegal immigration while protecting and 
bolstering the legal immigration system.
  Our Nation is a nation of immigrants, and Theodore Roosevelt 
addressed this, I think, very succinctly in 1907 in a speech when he 
talked about our land being a land of immigrants, how we have come over 
from other countries from around the world. But he also went on to say 
and talk about the values of America, that we, being a land of 
immigrants, understand this: There is but room for one flag. It is the 
American flag. You need to honor it. There is room but for one 
language. It is English. You need to learn it.
  Immigration without assimilation is an invasion, and that is really 
what we have, an invasion, because we don't know who is here. We don't 
know where they came from.
  And Dreamers who were brought here to this country, I think we are 
all sympathetic. They were brought here to this country at no fault of 
their own and registered with DHS under DACA. There is a program where 
they could have registered. They are a different class, but they can be 
handled in a systematic manner, whether it starts off with probationary 
periods, running background checks, ensuring all fines are paid for 
outstanding traffic tickets or other, among other things. And I stand 
with and I am a cosponsor of the Goodlatte-Labrador bill. I think it is 
a great start. As immigration policies or as policies up here in 
Washington, we know they change over time, and so I think this is a 
good start.
  We need to strengthen our border--that needs to be paramount--and 
tighten our borders through what the Customs and Border Patrol tell us 
to do.
  You know, there are people who want to build a wall from sea to 
shining sea. I think we should build a wall where the experts say we 
need to build a wall and do other forms of security, but the bottom 
line is we have to have a secure border. And it is not just our 
southwest border; it is all of our borders. And I think every American 
should be concerned about this, and you would think they would want 
this.
  We also should allow Customs and Border Patrol to survey and make 
recommendations for how they think best we can increase the security 
of, again, not just our southern border but, again, all the borders.
  Sanctuary cities who openly defy Federal immigration law place 
American citizens at risk, and I would hope the people in those cities, 
the citizens of those cities, would rise up and hold their elected 
officials accountable so that it is not a political platform that a 
party wants to promote. All you have to do is look at the many people 
who have been killed by people here illegally, and they rush for the 
protection of a sanctuary city.
  And these are cities, again, that are breaking the Federal law. They 
defy Federal law without consequence. Congress does have the power to 
hold these people accountable, these States. And, again, it will be the 
citizens of those cities, hopefully, who will rise up and say enough is 
enough.
  The Goodlatte-Labrador bill, H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future 
Act, I cosponsored because it lays out a plan to address many of the 
immigration reform priorities: It eliminates the diversity visa, which 
is just a happenstance. If you are the lucky one

[[Page H1207]]

who pulls the right number, you get the lottery ticket, and the lottery 
ticket is coming here to America. It eliminates the diversity visa to 
increase the number of skilled worker visas. It creates a new 
agriculture guest worker program.

  And I am proud because some of the recommendations we have are in 
that bill, and so we want to see that pass. This is one of the things 
that has to happen.
  But before we can go forward, we have to make sure that the borders 
are secured, that the rule of law is enforced, and that we have a good 
guest worker program. It also requires employers to utilize the E-
Verify system to ensure their employees are legally able to work in 
this country.
  The good thing about the E-Verify system, it also gives protection to 
the employer, knowing that they went through the process that the 
government says they must go through and they have hired people that 
the government says are okay. So it gives protection not just to our 
employers, but it gives protection to the people here, who come here 
for the privilege of coming to America to work.
  It invests in a new security measure for our borders, gives 
registered DACA recipients a renewable 3-year legal status, while 
ensuring individuals who could cause harm are not eligible for it. It 
withholds grants and Federal funding from sanctuary cities and gets rid 
of the chain migration.
  So this, I think, is a very strong bill. I think it is a very good 
bill, that it accomplishes the goal. It could always be better. It is 
not comprehensive immigration reform, but it is a great start.
  You know, working in the agricultural sector for 35 years of my life 
as a veterinarian working on the farms, I talked to a lot of the 
immigrants, and a lot of the immigrants that I talked to were here 
illegally. And I asked them: Do you want to be a citizen of the United 
States?
  They said: No. The majority of them didn't. They wanted the 
opportunity--the opportunity--to come here to make some money to go 
back home, and I think we should accommodate that.
  And then if you talk to other immigrants who are here and they 
migrated here legally, I asked them: Why did you come here? Why did 
your parents come here?
  And do you know what it always comes down to? They wanted 
opportunity, and they wanted security, and they wanted a better life 
for their family.
  So our broken system does not accomplish that, and it is time to fix 
the broken system, and this is the time to do it.
  With that, I thank the gentleman for bringing up this great topic, 
this passionate topic, and with your work, your help, we can accomplish 
this.
  Mr. GARRETT. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Yoho), my friend and colleague, for his comments.
  In 42 years, 3,037 Americans have been killed on U.S. soil by 
foreign-born terrorists. There have been 182 foreign-born terrorists, 
to be precise, who have taken the lives of almost 3,050 Americans, and 
63 of those 182, or greater than a third, came here legally on visas, 
to include the diversity visa scheme. In fact, our office has tried 
relatively diligently to calculate the actual death toll of native-born 
Americans by recipients of diversity visas, unsuccessfully. These are 
difficult data points.
  But just in the last few years, the name Sayfullo Saipov has been in 
the American news. This jihadist who had an admiration for terrorists, 
to include the murderous raping, intolerant thugs of ISIS, took the 
lives of eight Americans and injured many more in a truck attack on 
Halloween, just last October. He was the recipient of a diversity 
lottery visa.
  Before that, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev from Uzbekistan was also 
the recipient of a diversity lottery visa, and he was arrested in 2015 
for conspiring to ``kill as many Americans as he could.'' He wrote:

       I am in the USA now. We don't have the weapons we need. Is 
     it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway 
     while here? What I am saying is, to get guns, to shoot Obama, 
     and then maybe get shot ourselves. Would that do? That would 
     strike fear into the hearts of the infidels.

  This legal diversity visa recipient from Brooklyn said:

       If this is not successful, maybe bomb Coney Island.

  Fortunately, he was arrested before he could bring to fruition his 
plans to assault individuals in the very Nation that had so graciously 
opened its doors.
  It is incredibly interesting to me the results that I learned when my 
wife and I engaged in that which is all the rage these days and looked 
at our DNA. I found out I had relatives from multiple continents, and I 
am proud of that. But I am an American just like those people who stood 
with me that day at the home of the great American patriot Patrick 
Henry, from Africa and Asia, the Middle East, South America, Europe, 
Oceania. They are my American brothers and sisters. They did everything 
by the numbers and availed themselves of a dream that we all share. 
Those who do not, cheapen the sacrifice made by so many who have come 
before them.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________