Jeff Fortenberry: “A hallmark of America is that we have opened our arms and have been a just and generous nation to people who are fleeing…”

“A hallmark of America is that we have opened our arms and have been a just and generous nation to people who are fleeing political violence elsewhere, who have been persecuted in their native lands, and who are coming here to seek a better way of life. But here is the problem, Mr. Speaker: chaos and disorder at our border undermine the ability of our country to extend that generosity. A little-known fact about all of this is that for many years we have been working to get this question off of the one-yard line. But here we are again, seeing the trauma of unaccompanied children at our border and people receiving the wrong message that they can simply come here. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras to try to rebuild the conditions for the rule of law, to stop crime, and to give people economic opportunity. That is the right policy, and we had cooperative agreements with those countries to begin to halt the messaging that it is proper or appropriate to come here illegally. Of course, this feeds human trafficking and children being left alone. It is unjust. We need to return to the previous policy in which we are cooperating with those countries. ____________________”