Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of this year, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti and claimed 200,000 lives. The Department of Homeland Security quickly acted in the best American humanitarian tradition. DHS announced a humanitarian parole policy to allow orphaned Haitian children who were in the middle of adoption proceedings with American parents to quickly enter the U.S. DHS paroled about 1,200 Haitian orphans into the U.S. as a result of this policy. Adoption proceedings had not yet been completed when these children were airlifted to the U.S. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the children will have to live with their U.S. adoptive parents for 2 years before their parents can apply for permanent resident status for the children. During the interim period, the children must have their temporary parole status renewed each year. As a result, these children will wait an appreciable amount of time in parole status. {time} 1840 Representative Fortenberry was concerned about how this delay could affect the new lives of these young children in the U.S.; for instance, what happens if the adoptive parents die during their parole period? In order to address these concerns and ensure the futures of these Haitian orphans, Representative Fortenberry introduced the Help HAITI Act of 2010. The bill allows the Haitian orphans brought to the U.S. in the aftermath of the earthquake to receive permanent residence immediately.…”