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Chairman Graham just broke FOUR committee rules in order to advance Pres. Trump’s bill to lock up immigrant children INDEFINITELY. Rules every Republican voted for 6 months ago. Rules I always respected as chairman.
They might as well rip them up. So I did it for them.
They might as well rip them up. So I did it for them.
Democrats had many serious, substantive proposals for how to fix the problems that plague our immigration system and border. We filed over 100 amendments. Graham broke every rule and didn’t allow us to offer any. Here’s a couple I wanted to offer—
The Committee should start the immigration reform debate where we left off in 2013. Then, as chairman, I held five markups and 30 hours of debate. We considered 100s of amendments, and accepted almost 50 from Republicans. That’s why we received 68 bipartisan votes on the floor.
Even Chairman Graham this morning acknowledged that we need to deal with the conditions in the Northern Triangle. I wanted to offer the Central America Reform and Enforcement Act to do just that. Graham didn't allow it.
If “the cruelty is the point” of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, allowing for the indefinite detention of children would be its posterchild. I wanted to introduce an amendment stripping indefinite detention from the Graham bill. Graham didn't allow it.
We've all seen the pictures of the awful conditions in CBP custody. I’ve seen them first-hand. I wanted to create a multi-agency migrant processing center to reduce overcrowding and speed processing. This should be a nonpartisan no-brainer. Graham didn't allow it.
And all this for a bill that will NEVER BECOME LAW. We all agree we need a secure border. We all agree migrants must be treated humanely. Dems stand ready to work with Rs in good faith, like I did as chairman in 2013. Today’s partisan fiasco did nothing to solve these issues.
