On the recordMay 28, 2014
My amendment adds $1 million to the Executive Office for Immigration Review, EOIR, and is offset through the Department of Justice salaries and expenses account. Now, I really do want to acknowledge the committee for their great work in increasing funding for the EOIR for this fiscal year, but even with this increase, Madam Chair, funding is still woefully short of the President's request. This bill doesn't nearly go far enough to address the crisis our immigration courts face today. This House has spared no expense--no expense--when it comes to throwing money at our failed enforcement-only immigration system. Since we are spending about $18 billion a year on enforcement, we are detaining and deporting immigrants at record levels. An estimated 1,000 deportations take place each day. Yet, Madam Chair, we have done little to nothing to ensure that our Nation's immigration courts keep up with that pace, let alone fix many of these problems. This is one more example to demonstrate why we should have passed comprehensive immigration reform this year. But that having been said, this amendment seeks to address that disparity. This mismatch, Madam Chair, between immigration review resources and aggressive enforcement efforts has created a backlog of over 366,000 cases in our immigration courts. The average wait for a hearing is over 570 days. Many justified--justified--immigration relief and asylum seekers can find themselves waiting years in limbo.…
