[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 110 (Friday, June 23, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONDEMNING THE USE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL FACILITIES TO 
  PROVIDE SHELTER FOR ALIENS WHO ARE NOT ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 22, 2023

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H. Res. 
461, condemning the use of elementary and secondary school facilities 
to provide shelter for aliens who are not admitted to the United 
States.
  This bill is an absurd measure to condemn the facilities of a public 
elementary or secondary school that serves students to provides shelter 
for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted into the United States.
  I believe that a comprehensive approach is needed to solving the 
current immigration crisis.
  However, using the facilities of a public elementary or secondary 
school to provides shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted 
into the United States should not be politicized, as this is 
humanitarian issue and failure of our broken immigration system.
  As a Member on the Homeland Security committee, and more specifically 
the Border Security and Enforcement subcommittee, I interact with those 
at the border and migrants frequently.
  As such, I think it is essential that migrants are brought and 
allowed into the country through legal immigration.
  I am a strong proponent of humanitarian aid efforts in the 
immigration context, from preventing the breakup of individual families 
as a result of a wrongful deportation to ensuring that victims of civil 
wars and national disasters around the globe receive a temporary 
protected status under the U.S. immigration laws.
  We should not condemn the use of public elementary or secondary 
schools provide shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted 
into the United States.
  I acknowledge that school are places of learning and development for 
students, but there are time periods when school campuses are not being 
used, such as during school breaks.
  Because of this, the space could be used for humanitarian aid 
purposes, such as allowing migrants to stay there while they wait for 
legal processing and paperwork to conclude.
  Other exceptions need to be reviewed, such as whether migrants could 
stay at schools when school is in-session, but humanitarian aid should 
not be overlooked in the immigration context.
  As a leading country on the global stage, it is our duty and 
responsibility to assist who we can in a legal manner.
  More importantly when it comes to schools in America, we should be 
addressing critical issues that are truly impacting our educational 
system--namely, the hostile state takeovers of majority-minority school 
districts--as is what is happening in my district with the Texas 
Education Agency takeover of the Houston Independent School District.
  State takeovers in other districts have led to school closures, 
layoffs, and no improvements in test scores.
  The vast majority of school districts that have been taken over by 
state agencies (TEA included) have not improved but declined.
  With data ranging back to the late 1980s, researchers found that most 
state takeovers don't translate to academic improvements.
  We have to stop the State from intermeddling and overstepping into 
our educational systems--causing further harm and damage to our 
communities.
  That is why I have called upon President Biden and the Department of 
Education, to investigate and take immediate action to address the 
recent systematic and dangerous efforts underway by state and local 
officials in Texas seeking to undermine and undo decades of civil 
rights protections and advancements in educational institutions and 
student populations.
  And so, I am here today to say that these are the issues that the 
American people truly care about and want us to be fighting for, for 
the protection and preservation of their educational rights.