On the recordNovember 6, 2017
I thank the gentlewoman from the U.S. Virgin Islands for her leadership on this matter, serving as co- chair for the Caribbean Caucus, and being an outspoken advocate and fighter on behalf of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands who are still reeling from the two hurricanes that wreaked havoc on the three islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands. I want to thank the gentlewoman for organizing us this evening and really moderating what we all have to say here today. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern for the more than 300,000 temporary protected status beneficiaries who are under attack from this administration. Temporary protected status was signed into law with bipartisan support by President George H. W. Bush as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. Since then, it has been used in roughly equal numbers by Democratic and Republican Presidents alike. This program is based on a simple idea that we can all agree upon: the idea that it is immoral to send someone back to a country suffering from famine, disease, war, or governmental collapse where they could reasonably expect to perish. Today, instead, we, as a society, decided long ago as a humanitarian gesture to extend ourselves as a safe haven and to temporarily allow such people the ability to lawfully remain in the United States for up to 18 months at a time and seek gainful employment as conditions in their home countries would improve. This is not citizenship, and this is not amnesty.…
