Zoe Lofgren: “I think it is important that we be honest about why we are here today. Every major problem in this bill that this bill…”

“I think it is important that we be honest about why we are here today. Every major problem in this bill that this bill purports to tackle was actually created by President Trump himself. First, there is Trump's policy of ripping children away from their parents. He issued an order last night purporting to address this issue, but we would not need to address it in legislation if it weren't for his misguided policies. And I will point out that his remedy appears to be the same one that is in this bill, which is to put the mothers in the cages with the toddlers and to incarcerate whole families. Then we have the DACA program that President Trump chose to eliminate. He says he cares about Dreamers, but it was his own decision that created the present danger to these young Americans in waiting. And, finally, we have the asserted need to change our asylum laws to make it almost impossible to qualify, and to authorize the prolonged detention of asylum-seeking families with children, to ensure compliance with the laws. I mentioned during the discussion of the rule, this is not necessary. We had a program called the Family Case Management program that, according to the inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, resulted in a 100 percent attendance rate at immigration court proceedings. And that is, in fact, what we need. We need attendance at the court hearing. And if a person prevails, they would be granted asylum, if they fail, they will be removed.…”