Today, Chairman Poe announced the House Immigration Reform Caucus’ unanimous support for H.R. 3732, the Immigration Compliance Enforcement (ICE) Act. This legislation will defund the taxpayer funded position within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) designed to advocate on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

In 2013, Congress passed the Consolidated and Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013, which contained language to defund the “Public Advocate” position within ICE. Instead of following the law and eliminating the position, ICE quietly changed the name of the position to “Community Outreach” and continued business as usual.

“ICE’s attempt to skirt the law and simply rebrand the “Public Advocate” position for undocumented immigrants is just the latest episode in this Administration’s blatant defiance of the will of Congress. The people we represent overwhelmingly do not believe that their tax dollars should be spent advocating on behalf of those who have broken our nation’s immigration laws. Congress should not have to pass a law instructing the Administration to follow existing law. As we all learned in seventh grade civics, laws are written on Capitol Hill and it is the duty of the Executive to enforce them.” 

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