Immigration Reform

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Mr. POLIS. I thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before I get to my remarks, I briefly want to address the nuclear proliferation issue in Iran. The gentlelady from Minnesota, as well as myself, and the vast majority of Members of this body, have been supportive of crippling sanctions against Iran. Many of us believe that that has helped drive Iran to the negotiating table.

We hope for, of course, a peaceful outcome that takes nuclear weapons off the table and prevents Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; and, of course, we continue to keep the use of force on the table if our diplomatic solution fails to be enacted that reaches President Obama's objective of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The issue has had strong bipartisan support, nearly unanimous, here in this Chamber, with regard to continuing the pressure on Iran to rejoin the responsible nations and renounce the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

But I am here today to talk about something closer to home, Mr. Speaker, in fact, at home, Mr. Speaker, namely, the need to act on immigration reform. It has been 138 days since the Senate passed a commonsense bipartisan immigration reform bill. I was proud to be part of a bipartisan group of Members here in the House that introduced H.R. 15, a companion bill to the Senate's immigration reform bill that makes additional improvements on outcome-based border enforcement and would address our broken immigration system and replace it with one that reflects our values as Americans, helps create jobs here at home, reduces our deficit by over $100 billion, and restores the rule of law here in our country, which is currently being undermined by the presence of 10 million, 15 million, 8 million--nobody knows how many people are here illegally.

The issue will not resolve itself, Mr. Speaker. I call upon this body to act immediately and bring to the floor H.R. 15 and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Later on in my remarks, given that this is the week of Veterans Day, I will be talking about the contributions that many members of our military have made who are from immigrant backgrounds, including the talent that our military is missing out on today, including DACA, or deferred action recipients, who are able to work legally in our country, but are not allowed to serve in our military.

H.R. 15 would solve that issue, and we will be talking about the many contributions that immigrants have made and continue to make with regards to our military.

My colleague, Mr. Tonko from New York, is here; and I would be happy to yield to him for a moment.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentlelady from Washington for her leadership on this issue. This body's continual refusal to act on immigration reform sadly comes at a tremendous cost to our country and to our security as a Nation.

The financial costs, according to the CBO--it is estimated that the Senate bill would reduce our deficit by over $135 billion, grow millions of new jobs, and boost our economy.

In fact, in the 4 months since the Senate bill was passed, we have already missed over $5 billion in revenue and tens of thousands of jobs, jobs that Americans could use that have not been created, that don't exist today, because of this body's failure to act.

In the spirit of Veterans Day, it is important to highlight the tradition of military service that the gentleman from New York and the gentlelady from Washington talked about. At a time when the military is facing recruitment issues, making sure we have the very best men and women to wear our uniform and defend our Nation, many individuals who fall under the deferred action program are not allowed to serve in our military. We are talking about DREAMers, young people who grew up here, might have been here since 2 or 5, and know no other country, are as American as you or I, many of whom want to give back, want to risk their life to protect their country, the only country they know, the country that they love, and yet, the military is not allowed to recruit them, and they are not allowed to serve.

It has been estimated that more than 30,000 young immigrants would join the military and qualify for legal status if we passed comprehensive immigration reform. Key provisions of H.R. 15, our immigration reform bill, would have important and lasting benefits for our Armed Forces, and it has broad support from the military.

For example, the bill would allow deferred action childhood arrivals to enlist in all branches of the U.S. military, including the National Guard, and be provided with an expedited path to citizenship in recognition of their service to our great Nation.

Many immigrant servicemembers have become exemplary soldiers. Until 2009, only citizens and permanent residents were allowed to serve. In 2009, the Department of Defense introduced the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, which allowed visa holders with high-level skills to enlist in the military and earn U.S. citizenship through their service.

We are fortunate as a Nation to have talented and hardworking immigrants who want to serve in the military, but this opportunity today is largely restricted to special visas for medical professionals and language experts. While that improves the security of our country, it would be improved even more by passing H.R. 15 to benefit from the great potential and the tens of thousands of would-be servicemembers who are asking to give back to our country, who are asking to put their lives on the line to defend the country they love, the country they know, the country that they want to serve. Millions of aspiring Americans who want nothing more than to pay their fair share, who want nothing more than to give back to our country, to make our country stronger.

It is time for us to find a way for DREAMers, for hundreds of thousands of other talented people, to pursue their dreams in the only country they know. Whether their dreams take them to the front lines of combat defending our Nation or to the front lines of competitive jobs in the private sector, or to other forms of public service, failure to take action only perpetuates an underground economy in which our Nation fails to benefit from the great depth of human capital and talent that resides in immigrants that are already here, are already in many cases working, and already in many cases are contributing members of the communities that they live in. It is simply a matter of formalizing that process and restoring the rule of law so that we have a legal way of facilitating the flow of immigrants to our country.

I can reconcile that we are both a Nation of immigrants and a Nation of laws. Those two values that we have as Americans, a Nation of immigrants and a Nation of laws, far from being mutually exclusive, are complementary. H.R. 15 and the comprehensive Senate bill honor that tradition. That is why more than 70 percent of the American people support comprehensive immigration reform. It is why I am confident, Mr. Speaker, that placed before the floor of this House, H.R. 15 would pass today, would pass tomorrow, would pass next week.

I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Goodlatte, as well as the chair of the Rules Committee, Mr. Sessions, yesterday in the Rules Committee what the plan was for immigration reform, why we were bringing forth bills with regard to asbestos, a legitimate problem to be sure, a bill that has passed this Chamber before, and a bill that will not likely be taken up by the Senate, but a bill that comes under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, why are we spending days and days debating this bill rather than actually solving a problem of immigration reform.

Mr. Speaker, I know there are victims of asbestos poisoning, I know there are companies that want to resolve this issue, but I can tell you honestly, I haven't heard from any constituents who called my office begging Congress to take up asbestos reform. It is an issue; we should deal with it. I hope there is a bipartisan approach. But not one, not one of my constituents, last week, last month, last year, not one, called my office and said: We demand action. We demand action on asbestos reform.

Not one. Thousands--thousands--not only have called my office, have attended rallies in my office. I have never had thousands of people with the archbishop, with my good friend from Chicago, Luis Gutiérrez, who joined us in my district, thousands packed a church for immigration reform. Thousands packed a church for immigration reform. Not one call, not one phone call, not one email, asking Congress to pass asbestos reform. A thousand people in an afternoon. We had to close off promotion because it filled up so much, not to mention the thousands if not tens of thousands of emails and phone calls and letters saying, solve this issue. Solve this issue, Congressman. Solve this issue, Congress; we don't like the fact that there are 10 million people here illegally. We don't like that we dishonor the rule of law. I don't like the fact that my cousin is in detention and might be deported even though he has American kids to support. I don't like that.

You know what, Mr. Speaker? When we consider how unpopular this Congress is, it is no wonder that instead of acting on issues that Americans care about, we are discussing issues that, yes, we can discuss, of course, spend a day, spend 2 days. Are they going anywhere? I don't know, but issues that I haven't heard about. I certainly haven't had a church with thousands of people in my district calling for that issue. That's why we need to act.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I have a letter to submit to the Record from the Evangelical Immigration Table, and to quote in part, the Evangelical Immigration Table and the faith-based community, with strong support from the Catholic Church as well as from evangelical churches across the spectrum, have been strong supporters of immigration reform, from the pews and here in the Halls of Congress. The Evangelical Immigration Table endorsed value-driven immigration reform that respects the God-given dignity of every person, protects the unity of the immediate family, respects the rule of law, guarantees secure national borders, ensures fairness to taxpayers, and establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and those who wish to become permanent residents. I am proud to say that H.R. 15 honors the values of evangelical leaders, of Catholic leaders, of Jewish leaders, of Muslim leaders, of Americans across the faith spectrum, ensuring that our values as Americans and as people of faith are reflected in our immigration system.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from Miami for his impassioned words.

It is rare, in my experience here, that more than two-thirds of the Senate can agree to solve an issue. They always talk about reaching the 60-vote threshold. There are only 54 or 55 of one party. How do we get to 60? This was 68 votes, more than two-thirds of the United States Senate. This House could act tomorrow.

As you know, Madam Speaker, what many Americans wonder is if it could pass, why aren't we debating it? Why aren't we discussing it? What we spend our time on and the bills that we debate in this Chamber are determined by the majority leader and the Speaker. That is why we need their ability to bring these bills to the floor. If people want to stand in opposition, let them be public with that and say they don't want to solve immigration. But I am confident that the votes exist today with support of more than a third of the Republicans in the Senate. I think the numbers would be similar here. I think it could be a quarter, it could be a third, it could be 20 percent of the Republicans in this body that would agree it is time to fix our broken immigration system.

I yield to the gentleman from Miami.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from Florida.

It is not the desire, I don't think of any of us, of the Democrats, of our leader, of our Members, for this to be a political issue that one side is demonized on, that is used to generate political support. Rather, we would like to solve it. We would like this issue to go away. We would like to fix our broken immigration system; but if that doesn't happen, of course candidates are going to run on fixing it and the American people, with overwhelming support, will elect candidates who want to fix it.

If Members of this body won't lead, frankly, Madam Speaker, they will need to get out of the way, whether by their choice or whether by the people's choice. The Americans are demanding action.

I yield to the gentleman from California, a leader on immigration reform.

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Mr. POLIS. One way to honor the Speaker's word and not go to conference would simply be to take up the Senate immigration bill and advance it directly to the President. Perhaps we can also call upon the Speaker to honor his word in not having to go to conference by actually bringing the Senate bill before this body.

The conference would not be necessary; is that correct? It would go right to the President.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from California.

And just to highlight how we can improve our security as a Nation and honor the tradition of contributions that veterans have made to the security of our Nation, by simply allowing young people loyal to our country, who have lived here and it is the only country they know, who are able to work legally under DACA, simply allowing them, if they choose to, to put their lives on the line for the country that they love, that will make us all safer, Madam Speaker, and is part of H.R. 15 and comprehensive immigration reform.

I yield to another leader in the effort to fix our broken immigration system, a gentleman from a large district in Texas that covers a lot of the border, my good friend, Mr. Gallego.

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Mr. POLIS. I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) for his impassioned words.

Here in the spirit of Veterans Day week--of course we all honor our veterans every day of the year. This past Monday was Veterans Day. This week, in particular, we are honoring those who serve our Nation. I would like to share the stories of several immigrants who serve in our Armed Forces.

This is Augustus Maiyo, who serves in Colorado with the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson. I am proud to say that he won the Marine Corps Marathon last year and led the team to victory. He is a runner and has done remarkable times and ended up winning it. He was fortunate to get the run done right before Hurricane Sandy impacted our Nation. We are proud, of course. I want to thank Augustus Maiyo for his service and for being a role model for so many others.

One of the hats I wear in Congress is I cochair the U.S.-Nepal Caucus, and I am particularly proud to be able to share the story of Saral Shrestha, a Fort Bragg soldier from Katmandu, Nepal, who was selected as the 2012 Soldier of the Year. He came to the United States in 2007 from Nepal. He went to college in Nebraska, joined the Army in 2009, and was deployed in Afghanistan.

We should be proud of the contributions that our 2012 Soldier of the Year has made, himself an immigrant, an inspiration to all the men and women who serve, including those who were born in other nations.

As many of you know, the contest for Soldier of the Year is a very rigorous competition. Shrestha has been promoted to sergeant since he began the competition. We are particularly proud that the announcement was made during the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

There were many others, Madam Speaker, that we would like to be able to share the stories of, who want to lay down their lives to defend our country and to serve with distinction but, under current law, are prevented from serving in the Armed Forces, even though under the deferred action program they are able to work, they are able to attend school in our country, and all that many of them ask is to be able to risk their lives to defend the country they love, the country they know, the United States of America. H.R. 15 and the Senate bill address this situation and would allow these brave young men and women to serve.

It is time, Madam Speaker. It is time to bring this bill forward. It is time to have a simple ``yes'' or ``no'' vote. It is what the American people are demanding. The American people are not demanding that we spend our precious hours and days debating asbestos reform. The American people are not demanding that we only work a dozen days before the end of the year here in Congress. The American people are demanding that we solve problems.

More than 70 percent of the American people support comprehensive immigration reform. It would improve the security of the Nation. It would honor the service of our veterans. It would secure our borders. It would reflect our values. It would improve our economy. It would reduce the deficit--and it would create jobs for Americans. What is not to like? Let's pass comprehensive immigration reform now.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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