Xavier Becerra

As President Clinton has said, the current welfare system is broken and must be replaced. This is true for the sake of the people who are trapped by it as well as for the taxpayers who pay for it. But when we began to consider reforming…

I am actually quite encouraged to hear the chairman's remarks because I think, if he were to go to some of the large cities like mine in Los Angeles, what he would find is that transition is actually occurring rapidly. But when you have a…

I agree with everything she has said. All the information we have, the data and any studies you look at show that we are absolutely in need of teachers who can help transition a lot of our young students who are not yet proficient in…

I rise today to join another colleague and friend, the gentlewoman from Hawaii, Mrs. Patsy Mink, to salute all those in this country, all those Americans of Asian/Pacific Islander descent who have made this such a great country. I rise…

I was looking through the code book to try to see if I could understand what the gentleman from Florida was saying with regard to my example. The gentleman from Florida said that it would only apply if there were a case of physical force…

so the example that I gave still applies, that there is not always a need for physical force in order for these enhanced penalties to attach. I think the gentleman left the impression that, unless someone went out there and committed…

I support the stated objective of H.R. 3120. If someone, it can be proven, violated the law by tampering with a juror or a witness in order to try to help out a defendant, that person should be penalized. If the penalties that we have…

Mr. Speaker, let me rise in opposition to H.R. 3136 and mention that, along with some of the Members who have spoken earlier, I, too, believe that this bill will ultimately be found constitutional if it is signed into law. I also note with…

I am confused. The debate I am hearing from that side has nothing to do with the medical procedure that it seems we are trying to ban. I continue to hear people talk about how we are conducting abortions on babies that otherwise would be…

I support the efforts of the Chrysler amendment to try to have a reasoned debate on legal immigration separate from the very impassioned debate on illegal immigration. I would urge Members to support that particular amendment. Let me say…

I, too, stand in opposition to the amendment. We have no evidence that there is a need for this. We should preserve jobs in our hospitals and our clinics for the nurses that have gone through the programs in this country and are ready to…

Mr. Chairman, we are in a situation where we just finished a day and a half worth of debate, where we were talking about eliminating about 300,000 visas for U.S. citizens to be able to bring in their family members, their parents, their…

Mr. Chairman, let me make sure I make this as clear as I can: Section 245(i) within the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which this amendment by the gentleman from California would repeal, does not permit anyone to gain lawful permanent…

Mr. Chairman, in response to my friend, the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher], he probably is aware, as I am aware, that the only medical services that someone who is undocumented is entitled to are emergency services. Someone…

Mr. Chairman, this is an amendment that we must pass, because if we do not, we set in motion some ominous measures that will not only affect our privacy, but our job security. Let me first say that we have to remember that there are 66…

What we are saying, however, is that we have to be very careful in having law enforcement try to do the work of the INS and Border Patrol officers. If I can just cite for my colleagues' consideration at some point the reports by the…

if I can just say to the Members who are here and to the Speaker, who just finished with his remarks, all you have to do is go to the community colleges, the night schools for adults, the community-based organizations that are doing this…

Again, in response to what the gentleman said, if, in fact, there are these apartment complexes where there are needles laying around, if there is debris and filth, those are violations of our current State or local laws which would permit…

It is unfortunate that more Members of this body were not able to attend or chose not to attend a recent citizenship swearing-in ceremony that was held here in the Capitol. I believe that was the first time in the history of this Nation…

the problem some of us have with the amendment, though, is it goes beyond what the gentleman just spent several minutes discussing, and that is the ability to go in there and detain and arrest someone who they know has committed wrongful…

Mr. Chairman, let me first begin by saying that for anyone who has lost a member of the family as a result of some crime or has at the hands of someone committing criminal activity suffered harm or injury, let us all say that we are in…

Mr. Chairman, as I believe I began with this debate, I would say again, I have no doubt about the gentleman's intentions and his good faith in trying to ensure that we do everything we can to make sure that law enforcement, whether local…

There is a Constitution in this country, and thank God for it, because over the years we have found that it has held us in good stead. As much as there is a concern in having someone as an adult who is not legally in this country going in…

Mr. Chairman, again I must say that we have an amendment that sounds reasonable on its face, as something that we would want to make sure we could do to try to help curtail illegal immigration. And certainly the gentleman from Tennessee…

let me first acknowledge the work of the chairman of the subcommittee which I sit on, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Smith] for his work in trying to bring forward a bill on immigration. Let me say that I am very disappointed in the rule…