[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 29, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5655-S5656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Immigration

  Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, I rise today alarmed at Republicans' 
demands for drastic anti-immigrant policy changes in exchange for 
continued support for Ukraine.
  For nearly 2 years, our allies in Ukraine have fought off Putin's 
unjust invasion with the support of the United States--support 
President Zelenskyy himself has said is essential to his country's 
success. But now, as Ukrainians fight to defend their country and 
democracy itself, Republicans are holding additional aid hostage in 
exchange for unrelated immigration policy changes.
  In exchange for one-time funding for Ukraine, Republicans are 
demanding permanent policy changes that would further weaken our broken 
immigration system. The proposal put forward by several of my 
Republican colleagues earlier this month would further complicate our 
asylum system and sow further chaos--chaos--at the southern border. 
This plan would require asylum seekers to apply for asylum in every 
country through which they transit--a clear violation of international 
law that would effectively deny asylum to almost anyone outside of 
Mexico or Canada who cannot fly directly to the United States.
  Similarly, raising the standard for initial asylum screenings, known 
as credible fear interviews, would require asylum seekers to present 
even more detailed asylum claims within just days of a traumatic 
journey to the United States, typically while being detained in DHS 
custody and without the assistance of counsel. By making it even harder 
for the most vulnerable to seek asylum, these changes would result in 
political dissenters and persecuted minorities being sent back to 
danger and, in some instances, to their deaths.
  The Republicans' plan would also make the situation at the southern 
border more chaotic by eliminating the President's parole authority, 
which the Biden administration has used to create safe, orderly 
pathways for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to 
enter the United States. Eliminating this parole authority

[[Page S5656]]

would force vulnerable people from these countries to make a dangerous 
journey to our border to seek protection rather than applying for 
protection in advance.
  As the only immigrant currently serving in the Senate, I know that 
the challenges confronting immigrants are not hypothetical. This isn't 
about statistics; it is about people--people desperate for opportunity 
and the hope of building a better life in our country. A plan that 
villainizes and degrades those seeking to enter our country is bad 
enough; but this plan does little to address the actual issues facing 
immigrants, failing to acknowledge the plight of DACA recipients, 
temporary protected status holders, and undocumented individuals living 
in the shadows while contributing to our communities and our economy.
  Just this month, the Judiciary Committee, on which I sit, held a 
hearing on how to improve immigration courts. Immigration experts 
shared meaningful, thoughtful ways to improve this key component of our 
immigration system. Disappointingly but not surprisingly, sad to say, 
none of the solutions discussed at that hearing are included in the 
Republicans' proposal.
  Beyond the problematic content of their proposal is the precedent 
that Republicans are attempting to set by tying one-time funding for 
Ukraine to permanent anti-immigrant policy changes. Pitting vulnerable 
groups against each other--Ukrainians fighting an unjust invasion and 
asylum seekers fleeing persecution--is a recipe for bad policymaking. 
Exchanging permanent policy changes for temporary funding all but 
guarantees additional Republican demands on immigration next year.
  There was a serious effort to enact bipartisan, comprehensive 
immigration reform in the Senate in 2013. I was here then. I had just 
gotten elected to the Senate. The year 2013 was the last time this body 
attempted to address this issue of a broken immigration system in a 
comprehensive way. To this day, I consider that bill that we worked on 
in a bipartisan way in 2013 as one of the most important issues and 
bills I have ever worked on in the Senate.

  Comprehensive immigration reform was needed then, and it is 
desperately needed even more now. I stand ready to work in good faith 
with anyone looking to meaningfully improve our Nation's badly outdated 
and broken immigration system. However, that is not what the current 
Republican proposal does.
  The American people are tired of rhetoric. They are looking to us to 
act. I believe this body has the ability to come together and enact 
comprehensive immigration reform, and I hope we--Democrats and 
Republicans--both acknowledge that the immigration system is broken--
can find the will to do so. We did in 2013, and we can do it again.