Date: 2015-01-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Madam Chair. I rise in opposition to the Blackburn Amendment to H.R. 240. the Fiscal Year 2015 Homeland Security Appropriations Act. I oppose the amendment because it is nothing more than the Republican majoritys latest partisan attack on the President and another diversionary tactic to avoid addressing the challenge posed by the nations broken immigration system. The President will veto the underlying bill if the Blackburn Amendment is adopted so I urge my colleagues to defeat this irresponsible amendment which has the potential to put the security of our homeland at risk. The Blackburn Amendment would prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using federal funds to implement enforcement guidance governing the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to ensure that scarce resources are targeted toward aliens who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety and not wasted on Dream Act children who pose no threat to our nation. I oppose the Blackburn Amendment because it is hypocritical. irresponsible. and meanspirited. It is hypocritical because supporters of the amendment regularly claim that their refusal to compromise on budget issues and their support for sequestration is motivated by their belief in the importance of setting spending priorities. Yet. the Blackburn Amendment would deny ICE the ability to use its limited resources in the most efficient manner to achieve its highest priorities which are apprehend. detain. and remove aliens who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety. The Blackburn Amendment is irresponsible because it seeks to prevent trained. experienced. and professional agents and prosecutors from exercising their discretion and acting on the basis of what everyone knows to be true: that there is a vast difference between a terrorist bent on harming America and DREAM Act kid studying hard in school so he or she can graduate and join the Armed Services and willingly risk his or her life to defend the country. This inefficient use of resources wastes taxpayer dollars and does nothing to keep America safe. Third. the Blackburn Amendment is meanspirited because it would have ICE target its limited resources on innocent. law abiding. young people who were brought to this country as children and would have them deported to a foreign land even though America is the country they know as home and the only to which they have ever pledged allegiance. As Member of Congress. I have traveled many times to Iraq and Afghanistan and always the highlight of my visit was meeting the young men and women who are willingly risking their lives to defend the country they love more than life. Right now. at this very moment. there are thousands of soldiers fighting for us in Afghanistan and elsewhere who are not yet American citizens but who dream that one day they will become citizens of the nation they gladly risk their lives to defend. The Blackburn Amendment. however. would have ICE agents and prosecutors pretend to see no difference between someone like these veterans who came to this country as an undocumented immigrant and an alien engaged in or suspected of espionage or terrorism. The Blackburn Amendment wastes the money of hardworking taxpayers. It does nothing to make America safer. And. just as bad. it is inconsistent with American values of justice and fair play. Madam Chair. as a nation of immigrants. the United States has set the example for the world as to what can be achieved when people of diverse backgrounds. cultures. and experiences come together. It is now time to open the golden symbolized by Lady Libertys lamp to the immigrant community of today so they can participate fully in the American Dream. Instead of passing irresponsible measures like the Blackburn Amendment. we should instead seize this historic opportunity pass legislation to ensure that we have in place adequate systems and resources to secure our borders while at the same preserving Americas character as the most open and welcoming country in the world and to reap the hundreds of billions of dollars in economic productivity that will result from the passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. I urge all Members to join me in opposing the Blackburn Amendment. 1l 1000 The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Tennessee .