Date: 2012-05-15
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Let me thank the gentleman from California and applaud the gentlewoman from Maryland for her early. early involvement and leadership on this issue. It was certainly advocates like herself that allowed members of the Judiciary Committee. of which I was a very young member. to be able to draw upon that advocacy and write the VAWA legislation at that time. And I did it with bipartisan support. Chairman Hyde was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time. and I remember distinctly. In fact. I was with Senate Members today who remember us from the House coming down to the swamp on the Senate side in a bipartisan manner to stand and support VAWA and its writing. And it couldnt have been done without the many stories and the many advocates like yourself. And so Im delighted to serve on the Judiciary Committee on each and every reauthorization that has come about. I have been involved with it and been involved legislatively in a bipartisan manner. The sadness today to all of us is that were not able to do this in a bipartisan manner. And I will just briefly recount. if I can. what it means to a woman and the enormous range of ages and then conclude my remarks by indicating that the legislation that will be on the floor of the House tomorrow. H.R. 4970. is sad because it has not given the opportunity to do the right thing for women in a bipartisan mann er. Just let me cite these stories: Jonathan Barnes. 23. strangled his girlfriend. Jessica. to death. Barnes was charged with Jessicas murder. Carlos Rodriguez. 38. strangled his wife. Rumalda. who was found deceased in her bed. She was 27. Lucy Garcia. 63. Florentino Suchil. 54. beat and then ran over his girlfriend. Lucy. with a vehicle. She died from severe trauma. Yolanda Punch. 47. Lonnie Punch. 47. shot his wife. Yolanda. to death at her friends apartment complex. Lucinda Bernard. 34. Donald Bernard. 44. stabbed his wife. Lucinda. to death in their home. Rosa Limon. 25. Victor Azua. 28. shot his girlfriend. Rosa. to death before he shot and killed himself. Shannon Strickhausen. 38. was shot by Jimmy Yarbrough. He shot Shannon to death before he turned the gun on himself. Her 14yearold daughter who was at home called the police. Vanessa Favela. 23. was shot and killed. Donna Baeza. 48. was stabbed to death by Harold. Marquita Brown. 25. was shot to death. Another unidentified victim was shot by someone they believed to have been her husband. and the children discovered both deceased. Someone by the name of Fortunata was killed by Juan Perez. shot to death. It goes on and on in terms of the violence. It is not a respecter of age. And what we have in this legislation. H.R. 4970. that is so striking for those of us who have dealt with women. I sat on the Houston Area Womens Center that provided refuge for women. I have dealt with women who have had their faces shot off and have had to run for their life. Heres what we have in this legislation. very briefly. As we commemorated law enforcement officers who lost their lives today. we know when they come upon a domestic violence circumstance. they are in jeopardy. But what they want most of all is for that victim to be able to talk to them. In a series of amendments to this legislation that is not in the Senate bill. we have taken to do immigration reform or immigration enforcement or immigration oppression. and we have used it in the wrong way. We have decided to take victims who happen to be immigrant women who happen to be here legitimately through the visa of their spouse. and weve indicated these three points. It would unduly restrict what we call the U visas. Currently to obtain a U visa for victims of serious crime. Federal. State or local law enforcement certifies that the applicant has or is likely to be helpful in the investigation. but this bill would restrict the law enforcement agency certification only to victims for 60 days. Some of these women are running for their lives. Some of these women cannot be found. Another provision on this would encourage vulnerable victims of particularly serious crimes. this would deny them the opportunity for a green card. That has always been law. that you have the access. And then. of course. it would suggest that these victims are using their abuse to fraudulently get a status or to get an immigration process. So it would enhance the penalties for those women if they found some flaw in their testimony. Clearly. a whole segment of the population would be ruled. in essence. ineligible for relief or help. But. more importantly. you would cast a whole litany of women who have been involved in this violence who happen to be immigrants. whose children happen to be immigrants. it would. in essence deny them the rights that they had before. It would take away current law. Let me close by saying the Senator from Minnesota offered an amendment that I have offered and hope even though it may be a closed rule to be able to provide 70 percent funding to end the backlog of rape kits. There is a massive backlog of rape kits. which means that a woman is denied justice because those rape kits are not being processed. These rape kits are in hospitals. They are in evidence rooms. They are in backdoor pantries. They are in places where they cannot be found. but they are there. We need to be able to put an emphasis on ensuring that these rape kits. sometimes years old. sometimes women havent gotten justice. Sometimes the perpetrator. having raped again. has not been brought to justice because we have not been able to process those kits. So there are many things that we could have done in a bipartisan manner. Tomorrow we will be debating this bill. Many people will be left out. I only say to the women and men who are on the floor tonight and those who may be listening to us. lets put this back. Lets go forward in a bipartisan manner. Lets make this bill the kind of bill that answers all of the concerns that have been expressed. and lets do better than H.R. 4970 because the women of this Nation deserve it.