[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE NEED FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the need for 
bipartisan and comprehensive immigration reform. I am disappointed by 
President Trump's actions on immigration during his first 2 months in 
office. I do not say that lightly, because I want this President to 
succeed, as I want every President to succeed, because if they succeed, 
so does our country.
  But the President's comments and actions to implement policies that 
don't hold up American values has me feeling very uneasy. To say the 
least, his erratic statements made on domestic and foreign policy, that 
he has either taken back or corrected, demonstrates a lack of 
diplomatic experience. For example, issuing an executive order to build 
a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border is not a real solution to fixing our 
broken immigration system. It does little, if anything, to improve our 
national security, and it would only hurt trade relations with Mexico, 
which would have a very serious economic impact not only on American 
exporters, but especially California's agriculture industry.
  Additionally, the Trump administration's directives to deport 
undocumented immigrants, regardless of how long they have lived here 
and the contributions they have made to our society, is a strong 
example of the President's implementing policy that not only is flawed 
from a human rights perspective, but it is going to have a negative 
impact on our economy as well.
  President Trump is forcing over 11 million individuals who have lived 
in the United States for decades deeper into the shadows of our 
communities. They are scared to go to work, scared to go to school, and 
scared to live their lives. California's agriculture industry relies 
heavily on a workforce of individuals who are undocumented and work 
every single day to accomplish the American Dream for themselves and 
their families. These individuals are not only contributing to the 
agriculture industry, but they are also students, entrepreneurs, and 
businessowners.
  Furthermore, implementing an executive order to ban travel to the 
United States is not the American way. As many people in my district 
are aware, President Trump's first travel ban prohibited a 12-year-old 
girl, Eman, and her U.S. citizen father from coming home to the United 
States, and his order put them in harm's way while they waited in 
Djibouti.

                              {time}  1030

  Last month, a Federal appeals court ruled to block that executive 
order travel ban. Four weeks ago, father and daughter finally came back 
to Los Banos to rejoin their family.
  Our President and his team had to go back to the drawing board, as we 
know, to issue a new executive order. And just last night, his second 
executive order to ban travel was blocked.
  The Trump administration claims that the flawed executive orders are:
  One, a vital measure for protecting national security;
  Two, work to improve the vetting process; and
  Three, that the United States has a right to vet people who are 
entering the country and keep people out who are doing us harm.
  I agree that we need to work together to protect national security. 
The Federal Government is obligated to keep our country safe and vet 
people who enter this country. And guess what? Thorough and rigorous 
vetting policies are already in place, and they have been going back to 
the Bush administration ever since 9/11. That is nothing new. My office 
receives casework on a weekly basis regarding visas that are being 
extremely vetted and individuals who are waiting for years to get the 
proper visa to come to this country. That is extreme vetting.
  I strongly encourage the President to work with us in Congress and 
implement a policy that actually strengthens our national security, 
upholds our national security, and upholds our American values that we 
all cherish. Working together on a bipartisan basis, we can fix our 
Nation's broken immigration system. Working together, we can make 
important investments in our infrastructure, and we should. Working 
together, we can reform our tax system so it is simple and fair. 
Working together, we can negotiate a farm bill that provides benefits 
for all Americans. Working together, we can fix the Affordable Care 
Act.
  Clearly, in regards to the ACA, my Republican friends have decided to 
go at it alone. That is too bad.
  I stand ready to work with the President on a bipartisan basis on all 
of the above, but the President must reach out. I sincerely want our 
President to do well because that is what is in the best interest of 
our country, as I want every American President to do well. But it will 
not happen. It will not happen, my colleagues, my friends, unless we 
work together.

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