[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2141-H2142]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PROTECTING THE VALUES OF OUR NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, as vice chair of the Congressional 
Hispanic Caucus, I will highlight some of the ongoing work my 
colleagues and I from the CHC's Working Group on Migrant Families are 
doing.
  Last month, in anticipation of the elimination of title 42, a Trump-
era measure, our working group sat to work and develop recommendations 
that were subsequently submitted to Secretary Mayorkas outlining the 
CHC's proposal to protect the values of our Nation. These include the 
rights of immigrants, asylum seekers, the rights of families to enter 
our country and make their case before government as they flee 
political violence, as they flee gang violence, as they flee food 
insecurity, as they flee environmental crises that forces, perhaps, a 
mom to take her three children and walk for thousands of miles to our 
border.
  Mr. Speaker, immigration is not a matter that is exclusive to the 
United States of America; it is a worldwide matter. Mothers and 
families across the planet are often forced because of violence, 
because of war, because of environmental crisis, and because of food 
insecurity to seek a better life for them and their children.

  We submitted a series of recommendations to Secretary Mayorkas, among 
them was not to resort back to the family detention model that was 
perpetrated during the Trump administration. This model we know, and 
experts feel, scars children, some of them for life. We saw the photos 
and the images of children incarcerated in cages during those days and 
those children, experts feel, could be scarred and traumatized for 
life.
  We asked Secretary Mayorkas not to resort back to the family 
detention model, and we were happy to see that he did not.
  Next, in our series of proposals, was to grant and continue to grant 
the parole program for Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Venezuelans.
  Mr. Speaker, there is a crisis of democracy in the Western Hemisphere 
and in this chapter of our history, it is not characterized by a left-
leaning government crisis or a right-leaning government crisis.
  It is impacting countries on both ends. Therefore, it is prudent and 
appropriate to grant those that are fleeing political violence, whose 
lives are in danger, as we grant to Ukrainians that come to the border 
and other folks that are fleeing political violence and escaping 
murder, the opportunity to make their case for asylum.
  We were happy to see that that program will continue and provide a 
legal pathway for those seeking asylum. Though several elements of this 
parole program may not necessarily be the

[[Page H2142]]

best, it is one that provides a legal path of access to the United 
States Government to make their case for asylum.
  I further applaud Mr. Mayorkas' efforts to implement a new program 
that basically applies to citizens of El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, 
and Guatemala. It provides the ability to have family reunification. We 
often hear, time and time again, how family values are an integral part 
of America and that when families are together, our Nation is stronger; 
when families are divided, our Nation is weaker.
  So this particular program will assist, again, in--through legal 
pathways--providing family reunification efforts and the abilities for 
citizens of El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, and Guatemala. These are 
both very good programs.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is a step in the right direction.

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