Zoe Lofgren: “We may think that is a good thing or a bad thing, but we don't think that it is a crime to love your child and want to…”

“We may think that is a good thing or a bad thing, but we don't think that it is a crime to love your child and want to get back to that child. The desperation that these families feel is a direct result of our inability to create a top-to-bottom reform of our immigration laws that allows families to be united, allows the economy to meet its needs, allows the crops to be picked legally. We have created this problem by failing to enforce our laws. This bill doesn't solve the crime problem that we all care about. It creates new problems. It is not the answer to the terrible offenses that are at the name of it. In fact, those terrible crimes seem to me to be merely an excuse to expand deportation for the many, many people whose only offense is wanting to be near their families. I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule and to oppose this bill.”