Political Quotes

“The committee reported S. 285 out of committee on July 19. The committee-reported bill includes a provision that prohibits Mr. Chukwueke from using his status to sponsor immediate family for benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The language in my amendment is identical to language used in other private relief bills. Similar language was included in bills in 1999 and 2000. Senator Levin, the sponsor of this private relief bill, supported the amendment. We always consider private relief bills on a case-by-case basis. In the case of Mr. Chukwueke, we were told that he did not have parents or family in the U.S. or in Nigeria. It turned out that was not the case. Those statements were inaccurate. He says he did not mean to mislead ICE agents about his family, but the fact is that he did. He did not tell the whole truth. As I said, in previous private relief bills, we have excluded private bill recipients from sponsoring immediate family members. That is not to say that the family members are barred from ever entering the country. It simply means they cannot use the private bill recipient's special status to provide them a benefit or to gain derivative status. There are many worthwhile people who want to come or remain in the United States. However, there are bad actors and people who will perpetuate fraud in order to do so. People will go to great lengths to come to the United States.…”