Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, when I helped clients win asylum cases as a young law student, I heard the tragic stories of how they fled their countries, carrying with them fear and pain but little else. It is already very hard to win asylum. You must first show that you have a credible fear of being persecuted in your home country. Asylum seekers must later prove their claims in an administrative or court process. There are many things wrong with our immigration system, but showing credible fear is the right first step. Now, we are seeing major permanent proposed changes to our asylum law as a condition for emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific. I stand in strong support of this emergency aid. It is essential, but just as it was wrong to tie Israeli aid to gutting the IRS' ability to go after tax cheats, it is wrong to tie harmful, significant, and permanent changes to asylum law to passing essential aid for our allies. Instead, we need comprehensive immigration reform. We need to protect our Dreamers, and we need to support our allies. Our Latino communities, our asylum seekers, and our allies abroad deserve better. ____________________”