[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6545-6546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, tick, tick, tick. The clock and the 
calendar march on. Congress just took a 2-week vacation, and I am back 
to remind my colleagues that the window to pass legislation to fix our 
broken immigration system, stimulate the economy, keep families 
together, and strengthen America is ticking away.
  With just 25 legislative days until the July Fourth recess, the 
Republicans have a difficult task, and it gets harder with each passing 
day. But I am optimistic this morning. Last week I saw the Speaker of 
the House in his district urging his Republican colleagues to get to 
work and legislate on this important issue. Republicans from Coffman in 
Colorado to King in New York are calling for reform.
  In my home State of Illinois, practically every Republican running 
for office came out to stand with former Speaker Denny Hastert and the 
business community to say they want Republicans to allow a vote on 
immigration. One speaker, Carole Segal, the cofounder of Crate & 
Barrel, shared the microphone with two American kids whose parents are 
being deported, and there was not a dry eye in the house. I knew there 
was a reason I shopped at Crate & Barrel.
  While some House Republicans, the Speaker, and key Republican 
supporters and funders get it, the majority leader did not list 
immigration as something the House should address this spring. It is 
nowhere on the legislative calendar.
  In order to fix what is broken about our immigration system, we must 
do three things at the same time. We must repair and improve our legal 
immigration system so that we can eliminate the black market; we must 
strengthen and humanize our enforcement system so that our laws serve 
our national interests; and we must legitimize and destigmatize those 
people who actually live, work, and raise families in our country by 
inviting them to join us on the right side of the law so that they can 
earn the privileges and fulfill the responsibility our great Nation 
demands.
  The easiest way for Republicans to get this issue behind them would 
be to schedule a vote on the bipartisan bill that passed the Senate 
last year. An hour or 2 of debate and a 15-minute vote is all we need. 
Done, punto. Not one of the Republicans who thinks that legislating on 
immigration reform this year is ``too hard'' needs to vote for it, and 
it will still pass comfortably the House of Representatives.
  But House Republicans say that the bill has too many pages and 
doesn't have the imprint of House Republicans. Okay. Fine. We have 
introduced the discharge petition for H.R. 15 for any Republicans who 
change their minds.
  Republicans say they prefer a series of short, digestible bills to 
address the three components of reform. Fine. Pass multiple bills to 
fix our immigration system, and we Democrats will work with you and the 
Republican majority. But remember, more bills take more time, and time 
is not something Republicans have plenty of.
  Republicans have said they don't want a special path to citizenship 
for adults who entered the country illegally. They want some sort of 
noncitizenship status that might or might not lead to citizenship over 
time. My side finds that very hard to swallow. At least we want to keep 
talking and hear you out. We want to see if we can reach a bipartisan 
agreement and move forward.
  Democrats think citizenship is important, and we are ready to fight 
for it. We think making everyone play by the same set of rules is very, 
very important to the American people. Okay. If this is the only way 
you will fix the three components of immigration reform, let's talk and 
let's see if we can reach an agreement.
  Now we hear the warning that if Obama does anything, even a 
clarification of the current deportation policy, Republicans say Obama 
will be ``poisoning the well'' for reform. This is from a party that 
seems to hardly need an excuse to scream about mass amnesties, Mexicans 
rushing across the border, and Obama's plot to undermine and sabotage 
America.
  Sadly, even some important Democrats don't think any form of 
Presidential action would be prudent at this time when it comes to 
deportation. They seem to be saying: Let's just ride out the pain of 
deportations in the Latino and immigrant communities while we score 
political points against the do-nothing Republicans.

[[Page 6546]]

  Maybe we can try again when Democrats are in charge again, even 
though we didn't do it the last time we were in charge. Yes, Democrats 
had 257 votes, and we didn't call a single vote for 4 years on 
comprehensive immigration reform.
  One by one, deportations are driving fathers and mothers out of our 
communities and leaving children in foster care. Neither party is free 
from blame, and neither party seems to have the appropriate level of 
urgency when it comes to the deportation of and the devastating effect 
our broken immigration system has on our immigrant families.
  The Republicans control the calendar, and Democrats will bring 200 
votes to the table if you work with us. We must all be willing to put 
it on the line, to stand up for what is right, what is achievable, and 
what will heal and strengthen our Nation. We still have the next 25 
days. Time is of the essence, Mr. Speaker.

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