Summer Lee

My thanks to Chairman Meehan and Ranking Member Clarke of the Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies as well the Education and the Workforce Committee's…

National security is always a priority for all Members of Congress, but we also have the understanding that we can balance that with the protection of these unaccompanied children.

The violence today is really even a greater cause for the departures than the misery that they experience.

Would you just speak to that?

Do you think we should pass comprehensive immigration reform along with strong border security?

You are on-going in doing that now?

So what you are saying is that with that recognition that there has been some altering, you get right to it to make sure that you rise to the occasion to make sure that this area and the Nation's border is safe.

I have worked over the years on human trafficking and human smuggling, and none of that will be diminished in light of the title of this hearing.

I think the Chairman is correct that we need to work together.

This was a bill that we worked with extensively.

I just take issue--and I respect all of the thinking on this, but I take issue with the idea that our Border Patrol team is not well placed with resources to do their jobs.

Can we not balance our desire for security with the recognition that we have passed a law that is not a law that undermines National security?

Should we respect and engage with the citizens in this region about how we approach the safety and security of the border?

I would argue that the National Guard militarizes.

None of these children were a danger to themselves.

You happen to have all of us in the entire State of Texas, and that means that you have the families and friends and local government officials that are here in this region.

The Federal Government is doing its work--I think that is going to be my role today.

Texas will stand in the very noble position to receive the funding necessary for reimbursement.

We are investigating and we care about these children and we are gonna address this in the way that the United States has always done in a humanitarian crisis.

I think we should not run away from challenges that have been made regarding the treatment of these children.

It is a humanitarian crisis of huge proportions, and we have to deal with it.

What child can imagine that they would fit under DACA? It is clearly an issue of devastating human smuggling and human trafficking.

The idea was for 20 children or 100 children to be handled by HHS, a more humanitarian--it was not an open-door policy.

We are talking about children who are not in the Taj Mahal but are desperate and maybe internally displaced or chased off by the violence of their countries.

So we are doing the right thing.