Legislation
Conservative Lawmakers Double Down on Deporting DREAMers and Limiting Deferred Action
Before adjourning for their summer recess a month ago, the House passed a partisan supplemental spending bill that had no hope of making it through the Senate. First, it did not provide anywhere near what the White House was requesting in order to deal with the crisis of… Read More
House Uses Unaccompanied Kids as Excuse for More Enforcement, Less Due Process
Congress adjourned last week without passing a supplemental spending bill to cover the costs of managing the influx of unaccompanied minors and families in the Rio Grande Valley. If the issue had simply been one of how much of President Obama’s $3.7 billion request actually would be… Read More
House Fails to Address Problems While Stripping Deportation Relief for Immigrants
The House of Representatives approved two bills Friday night, one that allocated only a fraction of the funds needed to address the humanitarian situation surrounding unaccompanied children and another that strips deportation relief for more than half a million young immigrants. Both passed on largely partisan lines. Read More
Central American Children’s Testimony Humanizes Debate Around Unaccompanied Minors
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus convened a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to add another dimension to the the ongoing debate around unaccompanied children from Central America arriving in large numbers at our southern border. Three children, who were once unaccompanied minors from Honduras, Guatemala,… Read More
House and Senate Face Stalemate over Proposals to Fund Border Challenges
Members in the House and Senate are offering competing proposals to address humanitarian needs as child migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border alone, but it could be difficult to reconcile the two plans before the August recess. The Obama administration requested $3.7 billion in additional funding earlier this month. Read More
Refugee Children Don’t Need More Immigration Enforcement
A humanitarian crisis requires a humanitarian response. In the case of the unaccompanied children from Central America who are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, this would include decent food, shelter, and medical attention while in U.S. custody. Even more crucial, it would include careful screening of each child’s case… Read More
HUMANE Act Fails to Address Humanitarian Challenges
Texans Rep. Henry Cuellar (D) and Sen. John Cornyn (R) will soon introduce a bill that expedites the removal of unaccompanied children from Central America. Their measure, the Helping Unaccompanied Minors and Alleviating National Emergency (HUMANE) Act, is a legislative attempt to change U.S. policies so that… Read More
The Legacy of S. 744, the Senate Immigration Reform Bill
On June 27, 2013, the Senate passed S. 744, an ambitious, bipartisan comprehensive reform of our immigration system. Although far from perfect, it represented a genuine effort to wrestle with the complex, confusing, and highly emotional train wreck that has become our immigration system. In the months… Read More
Not All Members of Congress Recognize the Nation’s Role in Protecting Unaccompanied Minors
The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing today entitled, “Dangerous Passage: The Growing Problem of Unaccompanied Children Crossing the Border.” Committee members questioned the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson on the growing humanitarian crisis at our southern border. Thousands of children from Central America… Read More
Honoring the Foreign-Born Service Members of Yesterday and Today on Memorial Day
Each year, roughly 8,000 immigrants join the U.S. military, bringing linguistic skills and cultural diversity that enrich each branch of the Armed Forces. Nearly 65,000 service members have become naturalized U.S. citizens since September 2001, but there are still limits that prevent young immigrants who want… Read More
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