[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, last Friday, I went with a group of 
Senate Democrats to visit several detention centers at our southern 
border, including the Border Patrol facility in McAllen and processing 
centers at Donna and Ursula, TX. The searing accounts about the 
conditions endured by the migrant families are true. We saw 
overcrowding. We heard migrants tell us they are unable to brush their 
teeth, shower, call their families, or access feminine hygiene 
products. We saw children in soiled clothing, caged and expressionless. 
It is heartbreaking--the thousand-smile stares on the faces of toddlers 
where smiles and laughter should have been. It breaks your heart and 
makes your blood boil all at once.
  But we saw something else. I am always looking for the positive. We 
saw a much better model employed by a nonprofit Catholic Charities 
center, run by Sister Norma Pimentel. There, families had access to 
medicine, food, and showers as their asylum cases were being processed 
in an orderly fashion. These people were being treated humanely, and 
they were following the law.
  Sister Norma told us that the government could replicate this model. 
She explained that if ICE reinstated the Family Case Management 
Program, we could see as high as 99-percent compliance with immigration 
court orders without the need for expanded detention and overcrowding. 
What a difference that could make.
  Sister Norma showed us that we can treat these migrants with respect 
and decency without sacrificing border security or law and order. The 
two are not mutually exclusive. That is such an important point. You 
can have both humane treatment and rule of law. Anyone who says that we 
must choose between treating these people humanely and enforcing our 
laws is offering a false choice. We can do both, and we can follow the 
model of Catholic Charities all along the border.
  That is why Democrats have been pushing to restart and infuse more 
dollars into alternatives to detention despite Republican objections. 
The Family Case Management Program, coupled with a Democratic bill to 
address the treatment of children--a bill that Senators Merkley, 
Feinstein, Durbin, and I have sponsored, as well as many others--over 
30 other Democrats, I believe--would both improve the conditions at the 
detention centers and ensure that families comply with our immigration 
laws.
  I would say one more thing about these kids and the parents. They are 
not criminals. I asked Mark Morgan, who is certainly known as a hard-
liner on immigration: What percentage of these kids and parents are 
criminals? It is a very small percentage. At one point, it was said 
that 96 percent--and at another point 98 percent--are not criminals. 
They are the same people our grandparents or our great-grandparents or 
our great-great-grandparents were, who sought safety and a decent life 
in America. Their children and their grandchildren--on my father's side 
I am one of the grandchildren, and on my mother's side I am one of the 
great-great-grandchildren--have done good things for America throughout 
the country. That is what America is all about. These people are not 
fleeing to break the law. They are not fleeing to traffic drugs. They 
are fleeing because the gangs down there have told the parents: We will 
rape your daughter, we will murder your son, and we will burn your 
house if you don't do what we want. They are fleeing for the safety, 
the beauty, and the opportunity of America, which generations since the 
1600s have done and have made this country great.

  We need to return to a rational discussion about the reality on the 
ground, and that includes a discussion about the root causes of 
immigration. Again, when the President says Americans should know that 
all of these people arriving at our borders are criminals trying to 
game the law, he should know who they are. As I said, Mark Morgan, his 
own CBP Commissioner, admitted as much to our congressional delegation 
on Friday when we questioned him. The vast majority of families are 
fleeing unimaginable violence and degradation in their countries. So 
let's get at the root causes of this, instead of just tweeting and 
going on TV and ranting, which people have done.
  First, allow migrants to apply for asylum inside their own countries. 
Second, hire more immigration judges to reduce the backlog in cases at 
the border. Third, provide security assistance to these Central 
American countries to help them crack down on the vicious gangs and 
drug cartels that cause so many to flee in the first place.
  This is a rational thing to do. I think most Americans, regardless of 
their ideology, regardless of their party, regardless of their 
political position, would support this. But the Trump administration 
has now pledged to end the security assistance to Central American 
countries. That is counterproductive. It is boneheaded because it is 
going to cause more people to flee. Unfortunately, it is been typical 
of the President's approach. This morning, the President tweeted and 
bragged about how he has cut off funding to Guatemala 9 months ago. It 
is counterproductive. That means more--not fewer--people at our 
borders, plain and simple.
  In my experience, I have not seen the President be serious about 
dealing with immigration. He has used the issue; he riles up his base 
without telling them the truth, making them think they are all 
criminals--I see this on FOX News all the time as well--demeaning 
immigrants, who are what America is all about, inflaming racial 
tensions, and stoking fear.
  So we in Congress, Democrats and Republicans, should take the lead 
and develop a way forward, a real way that will solve the problems at 
the border in a way that complies with humanity, the American way, and 
the rule of law.

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