Oversight Democrats Call Out Republican Efforts to Play Politics on Immigration Reform

Washington, D.C. (January 18, 2024)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led Committee Democrats in demanding that House Republicans stop political gamesmanship and join the rest of Congress in passing a bipartisan emergency supplemental spending bill with resources for foreign aid and increased border security, including for critical border enforcement activities, local communities receiving immigrants, and the fight against fentanyl.

"Today, our MAGA colleagues are using their first full committee hearing of 2024 to distract from the depressing reality that they have failed to bring forward even a single piece of bipartisan legislation to seriously improve our immigration system and confront our major challenges on the southern border. The 118th Congress is shaping up to be one of the most unproductive, with only 34 bills signed into law in 2023—a fraction of the number typically enacted each year. They simply have no program for America and just operate at the beck and call of Donald Trump," said Ranking Member Raskin in his opening statement.

The hearing included testimony from David Bier, Associate Director of Immigration Studies, Cato Institute; Joseph Edlow, Former Acting Director and Chief Counsel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Founder, Edlow Group LLC; and Tom Homan, Former Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Committee Democrats underscored how MAGA Republicans are pulling political stunts and threatening a government shutdown rather than working with Democrats to enact meaningful, lasting immigration reform that works for all.

• Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost stated: "Since Republican politicians have no plan to address the real issues of this country – low wages, high prices, et cetera – their leaders at the highest levels have dipped into the fascist playbook to blame communities, minorities, and immigrants for the issues Americans are facing."
  

• Rep. Melanie Stansbury pointed out Republican hypocrisy on the border, saying: "The policies the GOP is putting forward right now, right here in this House, are not about solving the immigration challenges that we're facing. They're not about solving the fentanyl crisis. They're not about solving the asylum problems and addressing the institutional deficiencies that they have. They're about cruelty. They're not about actually addressing the problems on the ground."

• Rep. Jasmine Crockett emphasized: "Republicans can't do the basic job that we are supposed to do. You see, in two days we are scheduled to shut down. They can't figure out how to do a budget because we're six months behind but, somehow, they are going to solve this complex issue of immigration. I seriously doubt it."

Committee Democrats demonstrated how, after Trump Administration policies decimated the United States' already broken immigration system, the Biden-Harris Administration has pursued efforts to faithfully uphold immigration laws and policies.

• Rep. Greg Casar stated: "Let me be clear—the right wing and these so called ‘Trump Border Policies' have nothing to do with keeping people safe. This is about ripping families apart, arresting immigrants, and blaming someone for our problems so we can ignore the fact that Trump and these right-wing officials are grifters."

• In response to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's questions regarding the Trump Administration's destructive policies, including "zero tolerance" family separation, Mr. Bier responded: "[The Trump Administration] had no plan whatsoever to reunite the kids that were being taken from their parents, and that's the most appalling thing... that they knew that these kids would be lost in the system, and they had no intention of fixing it unless they got caught. And, ultimately, they did get caught by the courts that ruled the policy was unconstitutional and undermined the rule of law."

• Ranking Member Raskin emphasized: "The [Biden-Harris] Administration ended the gratuitously inhumane and failed policies of the Trump Administration, including the cruel separation of immigrant families at the Southwest border. The [Biden-Harris] Administration repaired and expanded lawful immigration pathways through newly established parole processes and increased refugee admissions."

• Rep. Shontel Brown highlighted that House Republicans are failing to come to the table and fix the decades-long broken immigration system, stating: "Extreme Republicans have a choice—they can keep using immigration to try to score political points or they can help solve the problem. With Congressional Republicans unwilling to come to the table and have meaningful conversations about solutions, President Biden has limited options to broadly address concerns in the immigration system."

Committee Democrats underscored the decisive action the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to improve the immigration system and find bipartisan solutions, including by increasing access to lawful immigration pathways for people escaping horrendous conditions abroad.

• Citing interviews that Committee Republicans themselves conducted with Chief Patrol Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol in 2023, Ranking Member Raskin highlighted how multiple Chief Patrol Agents confirmed that their ability to secure the border has significantly increased under the Biden-Harris Administration. For example, the Chief Patrol Agent responsible for the Del Rio Sector of the Southern border stated, "Because we have gotten more detection capability, because we have, as you said, more on the way, we've got the additional processing coordinators, we are in a better situation than we were in years past. Similarly, the Chief Patrol Agent responsible for the Big Bend Sector stated, "We reduced the entries and got-aways in Big Bend Sector over the course of the last two years. We've been very successful." Despite repeated requests by Oversight Democrats, Chairman Comer refused to commit to releasing the full transcripts to the public.
  
• Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton noted: "The Biden-Harris Administration has removed a higher percentage of people who crossed the Southern border illegally in the past two years than the Trump Administration did during its last two years, and in fact migrants were more likely to be released after an arrest along the Southern border under the Trump Administration."
  
• Rep. Jasmine Crockett stressed: "Democrats have introduced legitimate, sensible legislation to address what we're seeing. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to grandstand for political purposes rather than work with Democrats and fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades." Rep. Crockett continued: "President Biden has tried to give state and local governments and non-profits federal resources to support temporary food, shelter, and other services, but MAGA House Republicans are refusing to give those cities and states those resources."
  
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez emphasized: "What this conversation is about, is about defending the American dream." She continued, "Thats why Democrats in Congress are using immigration policy and advocating for immigration policy that can be documented, that people can get a job, put a shirt on their back, support their kids without being a public charge and defend the very soul of what it means to be an American."

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