DelBene Statement on Passage of House Republicans’ Legislation on Unaccompanied Children

“The influx of unaccompanied children across the southern border is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis that requires immediate action. We desperately need members of Congress to work together in a bipartisan way to develop an effective and humane course of action to address this problem, and I am frustrated that House Republicans are playing politics with this crisis instead of creating a serious proposal to solve it.

“Disappointingly, House Republicans have put forward an unworkable appropriations bill (H.R. 5230) that fails to adequately address this crisis.  It includes harmful provisions that would weaken existing law and deny important due process protections aimed at ensuring that unaccompanied children are treated fairly and humanely. Furthermore, this bill cuts over $400 million to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), negatively impacting the federal government’s ability to respond to other disasters. 

“Another bill (H.R. 5272) needlessly punishes innocent children, known as DREAMers, without addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by violence in Central America. This deportation-only and enforcement-only approach to changing our nation’s immigration laws is misguided and will do absolutely nothing to prevent our broken immigration system from spinning further into dysfunction.  

“In my district, there are businesses, farmers, faith leaders, law enforcement leaders, and families who have been asking Congress for years to find solutions to our broken immigration system. Instead, House Republicans have decided to make today’s divisive bill a priority.  After more than a year of refusing to act on immigration reform legislation, this is an outrageous and unacceptable position to take. 

“I have been actively working as a member of the Judiciary Committee to find a bipartisan path forward – to tackle the job of fixing an immigration system that we all agree is broken, but House leadership has refused to do the work that’s needed to get responsible legislation to the President.  I hope that Congress can come back to work in a bipartisan way to get real results for the American people.”  

Full video of Rep. DelBene’s speech on the House floor can be viewed HERE.