Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 8225, the Fight Notario Fraud Act of 2020, addresses a problem that already has a remedy in current law. The U.S. Department of Justice and State and local officials fight against fraud every day, including fraud related to immigration laws. In addition, the Executive Office for Immigration Review maintains a Fraud and Abuse Prevention Program as a centralized place for anyone to make complaints about issues of fraud, immigration scams, and the unauthorized practice of immigration law. These existing efforts to fight immigration fraud are working. For example, in San Antonio, Texas, the DOJ charged Eric Jon Alva and his wife, Jessica Rivas Alva, in a scheme to defraud undocumented immigrants by falsely claiming to work on behalf of two San Antonio attorneys. Although they pled guilty and were sentenced to 6 months in Federal prison, they could have been sentenced up to 5 years, and that is 5 years under current law. By contrast, the bill before us today would impose only a 1-year sentence for similar crimes. In rare circumstances, the defendant may receive a 3-year sentence. So the Democrats' response to a problem in the immigrant community is apparently to go soft on crime and reduce the penalties for immigration fraud. That doesn't make sense. We also should not be in the business of complicating the immigration system, but this bill does just that.…”