Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this bears an important, absolute, and imperative necessity of a little…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this bears an important, absolute, and imperative necessity of a little walk down memory lane. In actuality, the American people really want to uphold her values, the values that they have come to understand as a core of who we are. The Homeland Security Committee traditionally, as the chairman and I have seen over the years, worked in a bipartisan manner. A little history is that just more than a decade ago, there was a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration bill led by the late John McCain. Unfortunately, interestingly enough, the Senate moved, and the House simply imploded that dream, the dream that those who came to this country without anything and did not know they had come wrongly, if you will, young people, could be DACA recipients and ultimately work their way toward citizenship. It was an effective asylum process, and we argued vigorously for legal immigration. People dutifully got in line, but consistently, as we refused to build on the comprehensive immigration structure, even though Democrats supported heavily enhancing the border--my bill some years ago provided enormous new equipment and technology. One of our colleagues even explained, by the way, this new border wall that everyone wants to talk about is not a border wall because it is indented onto U.S. soil. Once you get over the wall, you are already eligible to apply for asylum.…”