Joe Garcia

If the BIE doesn't even respond to the Navajo, how in the world do I expect them to... talk to the tribal leaders in the small communities?

the BIE cannot be trusted to provide a safe environment for our children in the learning environment.

I come from a rich culture in the Pueblo country in Ohkay Owingeh, and so I think it is important that I didn't learn all of the things that I knew about social life and culture and language and all of that in an education setting.

The Federal Communications Commission found that only 65 percent of tribal lands have broadband networks and are the most digitally disconnected lands in the United States.

Regardless of what you say, this Administration is bulldozing through and desecrating sacred sites with little to no consultation with the tribes.

That is the binding contract the United States entered into with Tribes, and from those treaties and other laws has arisen the United States' sacred trust responsibility to the Indian Nations and our peoples.

I am encouraged by Committee Chairman DeFazio's announcement last week of a transformational five-year, $760 billion investment in infrastructure.

In return, the Federal Government promised, through signed treaties, statutes, and Executive orders, to extend its protection to Tribal Governments and to our citizens.

the plight of the indigenous peoples and the dire need for both Federal investment in our Tribal Nations is personal to me.

I ask this committee to empower Tribal Government in the next reauthorization measure by giving Tribes the resources they need.

I ask this subcommittee to do the same for Indian country in the next highway bill.

I have long sought to provide equity and investment for our Nation's Native communities and rural infrastructure needs.

I look forward to working with the members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to ensure that Federal transportation policies...honor the Nation's treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribes.

Native Americans have been handled, yeah, very badly in this country, treated very badly since 1607.

With too few Federal appropriations, Tribes are falling behind the rest of the Nation, and transportation barriers hinder economic growth.

I would suggest that people go down to the border and visit. I think you will see that they are refugees, too.

What you have are children fleeing violence, fleeing poverty, and trying to reunite with their families.

I think we can all agree that we have a crisis on our hands. It's profoundly disappointing, however, that some of my colleagues are using this crisis as an excuse for inaction.

Just yesterday, Speaker Boehner wrote the President asking him to send troops to the border, to send National Guard troops to the border. To do what? These are children. They need help, not a gun in their face.

We need to fix our immigration system and invest in this part of the world to get to the root of the problem in this crisis.

No matter who you think is at fault, the fact of the matter is that there are hundreds of kids arriving at our border each day, hungry, thirsty, often traumatized by the journey.

I am astonished and ashamed that this Committee is going to have a trip to visit the centers in Texas and has this hearing and prejudges the very expedition that we're taking out next week.

Don't you think that allowing him to stay would be in the spirit of the DACA program?

I represent probably ground zero, if there is one, when it comes to global warming.