[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10994-10995]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CRAFT AN IMMIGRATION POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Madam Speaker, I came to the floor on April 2 to tell 
my Republican colleagues that they had 3 months to craft an immigration 
policy before the July Fourth recess. At the time, there was still hope 
that sensible Republicans would see that their existence as a national 
party depended on getting the immigration issue resolved.

[[Page 10995]]

I came back to this well almost every week to remind my Republican 
colleagues that time was running out. With the Nation gripped by World 
Cup fever, let me give you a visual representation of my message for 
the last 3 months.
  I gave Republicans a yellow card to put them on warning if they 
failed to act on immigration. If they failed to act, they would be out 
of the game. Having met with the President in March, I knew he was 
prepared to give Republicans time to craft an immigration reform bill, 
but if they failed to take action, I knew the President intended to use 
his pen and pad to save families at risk of being deported.
  Let's review where we stand 3 months after I gave you the first 
warning.
  A year ago this Friday marks the 1-year anniversary of passage of the 
bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill that passed with 68 votes in 
the Senate. We had our own group of 8 here in the House crafting a 
tough but fair immigration compromise, but politics slowed us down and 
the effort collapsed. Some leaders in the Republican Party, knowing 
that immigration reform is the only way to achieve border security and 
workplace verification like E-Verify, legal immigration to feed our 
economy, and compassion and justice for how we treat our immigrant 
neighbors and friends, some in the Republican Party kept trying, and I 
thank them.
  On my side of the aisle, we kept an open mind. When the Speaker of 
the House said no to the Senate bill, I said, okay, let's find a way to 
craft a House bill. When Republicans said no to a conference, I said we 
will find a way to make it work if that is what needs to be done.
  Piecemeal bills they said, not a comprehensive bill. I said we will 
work with you. No direct path to citizenship for most immigrants, well, 
we didn't like it, but we kept talking. No one tried harder than I did 
to keep the two parties talking about how to move forward on 
immigration.
  There are Members of the House Republican Conference who need 
immigration reform politically, others who want it because it restores 
law and order, and others for reasons deeply grounded in their 
conservative philosophy. Still others in the Republican Conference are 
fighting for reform out of a sense of compassion and doing the right 
thing, as my friend Mr. Diaz-Balart from Florida has.
  But months passed and Republicans turned their backs on their own 
members, turned their backs on the American people, turned their backs 
on the business community, on Latino and Asian voters, and on those 
trying to save the Republican Party from itself.
  You know, Madam Speaker, I kept hoping the better angels in the 
Republican Party would tamp down the irrational and angry angels 
blocking reform the American people want and deserve.
  And then the last straw. As violence and poverty and gangs drive 
families out of Central America, I see Republican Members of Congress 
and their allies in talk radio and TV taking advantage of a 
humanitarian crisis to score cheap political points. In a few hours, 
the Judiciary Committee, which has done nothing to help move the 
Republican Party and the Congress forward on immigration, will hold a 
hearing on what it calls ``Administration-Made Disaster at U.S.-Mexico 
Border.''
  I gave you the warning 3 months ago and now I have no other choice. 
You are done. You are done. Leave the field. Too many flagrant offenses 
and unfair attacks and too little action. You are out. Hit the showers. 
It is the red card.
  First of all, your chance to play a role in how immigration and 
deportation policies are carried out this year is over. Having been 
given ample time and space to craft legislation, you failed. The 
President now has no other choice but to act within existing law to 
ensure that our deportation policies are humane, that due process 
rights are protected, that detention conditions are as they should be, 
and, most importantly, that the people who we are deporting are 
detriments to our communities, not assets to our families, economy, and 
society.
  I think we all know that you are out when it comes to the White 
House. By taking no action, even after repeated warnings, you have 
decided it is up to the Democrats to pick the Supreme Court Justices, 
conduct foreign policy, and carry out all the functions of the 
executive branch for a generation, for the next 30 years. The 
Republican Presidential nominee, whoever he or she may be, will enter 
the race with an electoral college deficit they cannot make up.
  Republicans in the House simply have no answer when it comes to 
immigration reform, and Republicans have failed America and failed 
themselves. Madam Speaker, it is now time for the President to act.

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