That basically describes what has happened with the arrest and convictions of these young Black men for the most part.

I cannot reconcile that we require judges to be qualified.

For too many years, unjustified disparate treatment of crack and powder cocaine has had a racially disproportionate and unjust impact upon on poor people and minority communities.

They never delved into why and how all of these tons of cocaine was coming into first Los Angeles, cooked into crack cocaine and spread out across this country.

Let me just say that I wish that we as elected officials had the courage to deal with difficult issues.

There are those who would like to stay in business and would like to have some assistance.

My problem with the way this has been approached is this. We know that tons of cocaine was coming out of Nicaragua during the time of the confrontation between the Sandinistas and the Contras.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would like to begin by thanking you and Speaker Pelosi for your leadership in this area.

I think this legislation is critical to restoring the balance between fighting terrorism and protecting our civil liberties and freedoms.

I have re-introduced legislation, H.R. 1800, the National Security Letters Reform Act of 2009, to address these issues.

I'm concerned about the bill's preemption provisions.

The current preemption clause insulates assignees from liability for their own conduct if it is not under the rubric of fraud.

we cannot solve this simply by talking about deportation of everybody.

we have to have immigration reform in a comprehensive way.

to tell the truth, to recognize where the problems are, and to call upon immigrants to share in the solving of this problem.

I am committed--understanding all of the problems, understanding the violation of civil rights, understanding the criminal elements...

many of us are committed to comprehensive reform.

I think given the state of their economy at this time, which is in terrible shambles, that this will further cause them to have to think about whether or not they are going to completely disable their entire economic sector.

I reintroduced the Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act, H.R. 1466, to end mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.

we had to confront that very issue when we imposed sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

I am extremely sympathetic to the Iranian people on the ground, the innocent civilians and citizens who are at the mercy of the leadership of the Iranians in charge and the U.S. Government.

The Major Drug Trafficking Prosecution Act of 2009 goes to the root of the problem by creating a more just system.

I certainly think that this committee can play an important role in creating the public policy that deals with Iran.

This bill restores discretion to judges and allows them to make individualized determinations.

I was the author in the State of California of the divestment legislation that divested our pension funds from businesses that were doing business in South Africa.