Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, I am here today, unfortunately, to talk about the continuing inaction of this body on immigration reform. It has been 159 days since the Senate passed a commonsense immigration reform bill securing our borders, creating jobs for Americans, restoring the rule of law, requiring employment verification, uniting families. And this body has failed to act.

The House's failure to act on immigration reform has already cost our economy over $6 billion. Today, Madam Speaker, I want to talk about the human cost as well.

In the week following the Thanksgiving holidays, I want to recognize those individuals that are suffering because of our inaction, families that are torn apart, immigrant workers so critical for our economic success, living in the United States, who even helped put our Thanksgiving dinners on the table this year.

I want to begin by telling the inspiring story of a Capitol Hill staffer, sadly, a former Capitol Hill staffer, Erika Andiola. I had the opportunity to meet Erika and her mother today, and I hope that her story will inspire this body to finally reform our broken immigration system.

Erika wrote this letter to many of her friends, including some of your staffers, Madam Speaker, just the other day about why she is leaving:

Dear friends, today is my last day on the Hill. While ``last day on the job emails'' are customary, I wanted to share the unfortunate reason I am leaving. A few days ago, I informed my boss I would be leaving my job on Capitol Hill to return home to Mesa, Arizona, and fight against efforts to deport my mother.

After a year as a congressional staffer, during the push to bring millions of people out of the shadows in the U.S., I am now needed most as a daughter to my mother.

In many ways, my life represents a broad spectrum of experience for undocumented young people in our country. I am facing the most painful aspect of the record-setting deportations of the Obama Administration: family separation by deportation.

My home was raided by ICE on the same date I began my work in Congress. The raid stemmed from a traffic stop. While ICE is supposed to prioritize deportations for violent crimes, they decided to go after my mother, who has never committed a violent crime.

Families being separated is nothing new. The administration is currently nearing the 2 million deportation mark. Behind that number is an even larger number of families, like my family, being left behind.

I had the opportunity to meet Erika Andiola and her mother earlier today, and I can tell you we will miss her service in this body for the Member she worked for. She has her legal status, thanks to President Obama's Deferred Action program, or DACA, that allows her the paperwork to work, again a result of the inaction of this body, that the Executive had to take action, with the limited authority he has, to at least give a temporary reprise to Erika. But no such help for her mother.

And who among us wouldn't, if forced to choose between our job and our family, who wouldn't choose our family?

As Erika returns home to Arizona, I wish her and her mother well and good luck in ensuring that they can stay together in a country that I hope values families, just as it valued Erika's service to her country as a congressional staffer.

I encourage everyone to share Erika's story and to get involved at keepustogether.org to help keep Erika's family together.

Our inaction on immigration reform has also impacted our immigrant workforce, a critical part of our economy. Roughly 16 percent of all workers in the U.S. are foreign born, in diverse sectors from agriculture to information technology to hospitality to self-employed entrepreneurs.

As the Aspen Institute's November series of ``Working in America'' noted, the experience of immigrant workers varies significantly. Some achieve great success, while others are employed in low-paying and substandard working conditions.

In my State of Colorado, according to the 2011 census, over 11 percent of our workforce is comprised of immigrants. Among them, unauthorized immigrants comprise nearly 5 percent of Colorado's workforce. That is according to a study by the Perryman Group.

If we were to remove unauthorized immigrants from Colorado tomorrow, our State, my State, would lose $8 billion in economic activity, $3.6 billion in gross state product, and it would cost our State almost 40,000 jobs for Americans that would be destroyed if we didn't have the people that are in Colorado today already working and simply lack a legal way to do that that only this body can fix.

Nationwide, the millions of undocumented immigrant workers are often marginalized and exploited. In many cases, they have harvested our Thanksgiving dinners. They have harvested our onions, packed our tomatoes, perhaps cleaned your hotel room, Madam Speaker, or mine, washed our dishes.

Yet, their immigration status means that when unscrupulous employers try to take advantage, they often lack a voice to stand up for stable and fair working conditions or to report crimes.

Undocumented workers around our country engage in difficult, dangerous work under the harsh conditions. They often live in fear of detention or deportation.

Consider the example of a worker in Nashville who, while cleaning the restaurant where she was employed, cut herself, yet her managers refused for 4 hours to take her to the hospital. Even after receiving medical treatment, her employer refused to pay any of the costs for an employment-related injury. And the injury caused her a permanent handicap, with limited mobility in her hand.

Or consider the case of Raul, a North Carolina farmworker who lacks documentation. Raul shares a room and dirty and freezing bathrooms and showers with six others. Raul rises every day to provide for his family and give them the life he never had. Because his family is in another country, he hasn't seen his children in 5 years and misses them terribly, but his immigration status prevents him from even visiting his family back home and being able to return to his job here.

Or consider the case of Guadalupe Hernandez, a returned migrant and former undocumented farmworker who came to the U.S. at the age of 12 and has been back and forth three times since. Guadalupe endures working for 12 to 14 hours a day at minimum wage in order to provide for schooling for her five children.

So while Congress is working 113 days next session, 113 days next year--that is how much we will be here. I sure hope it is enough time to reform our immigration system. So while Congress is working 113 days, the average undocumented farmworker's workload is close to 200 days a year squeezed into 36 weeks of seasonal work, working double shifts to be able to put food on our tables for Thanksgiving.

While Congress works an average of 3 days per week and Members of Congress earn $3,500 a week, undocumented workers work 53 hours a week at an average salary of $318 a week.

In the time it takes Congress to hold our first vote in a series of votes--15 minutes, how long it takes people to come here and cast their vote--the average immigrant worker has picked four 30-pound buckets of grapes.

Our current immigration system has allowed the situation to persist and worsen. The current system lacks a pathway to citizenship without a family member who is already a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident. Even legal guest workers under our current immigration laws are subject to workplace abuse, are poorly paid, often risk having their identity documents seized, and often live in reprehensible living conditions.

H-2 guest workers, low-skilled seasonal jobs, are bound to employers who hire them and can't even search for other work. They are often overloaded with debt because of the fees that recruiters charge to bring them from their own country and arrange for transportation.

Comprehensive immigration reform would protect American workers by preventing unauthorized immigrants from undermining wage and safety laws and protecting U.S. workers' rights.

H.R. 15, the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill I am proud to have helped introduce in the House, would provide relief and help to all workers. The bill is similar to the Senate's immigration reform bill that passed with more than two-thirds of the Senate support, including agriculture, business, labor, tech, and many others in a broad-based coalition.

We are joined here on the floor by a champion of immigration reform, a Member of the House from the great State of California. It is my honor to yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cárdenas).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. POLIS. One of the ways that H.R. 15 was actually brought to the floor of the House and introduced was by the chief sponsor of the bill. The gentleman from Florida, in his short time in the House, has made an enormous impression, and particularly in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform.

H.R. 15, which is very similar to the Senate bill--and if we were to pass it in this body, it would be able to be ratified with the changes and sent to the President's desk--continues to gain support in this body. And I am happy to yield to its principal author, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Garcia).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. POLIS. Will the Speaker understand that the Speaker is preventing H.R. 15 from coming to the floor, and that is why there are men and women in the gallery that potentially face deportation and their families are being torn apart.

It is very simple, Madam Speaker. Very simple. We need an immigration system that reflects our values as Americans--a Nation of immigrants and a Nation of laws. One that creates jobs for Americans; one that reduces our deficit by over $200 billion; secures our border; prevents terrorists from entering our country so we know who is here; and ensures that crimes are reported.

We can do that, Madam Speaker.

And I have heard it said that perhaps some prefer to do it piecemeal. Let's see what the pieces are and let's have a meal. That is what the Thanksgiving spirit is all about. We will be happy to look at the pieces. Let's see them.

In fact, the Judiciary Committee has reported out four bills. Those bills aren't perfect, by any means; but through the Rules Committee and the amendment process on the floor, I hope that we could potentially make them part of a bill. But those four bills have languished.

In the meantime, other bills that have come through the Judiciary Committee, for instance, an asbestos bill, found a fast track to the floor. Patent reform, fast track to the floor. Four immigration bills passed out of committee. Weeks go by, months ago by, and nobody hears a thing.

Why aren't we considering those bills, Madam Speaker?

Even I support this patent bill that we will be voting on tomorrow. But even from our friends in the tech community, job creators, major companies, they like this bill, in many cases. But you know what they really want? Immigration reform. They will say, Fine, you helped us out finding a few patent trolls. Now get immigration reform done, because we will be able to create jobs for Americans.

That is what we are here for, Madam Speaker: uniting American families, creating jobs for Americans.

We do that, Madam Speaker, by passing H.R. 15, by passing pieces and having a meal, however you want to do it. In fact, how about we invite our friends from across the aisle, Republicans, to join us here next week to talk about immigration reform and a path forward?

We have been down here every week since the Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform demanding the House bring up pieces or bring up comprehensive immigration reform, and we invite our Republicans friends to discuss this with us.

There is no Democratic or Republican solution. This takes us working together for an American solution. We know that, Madam Speaker. H.R. 15 is not a Democratic bill or Republican bill. It is a bipartisan bill, with principals from both parties. More than two-thirds of the Senate support its commonsense approach.

We can improve upon the pieces and have a meal, or we can pass comprehensive immigration reform to reflect our values as Americans and create jobs for Americans and protect our borders.

The longer that we fail to act, the more men and women will have to be in these galleries here, Madam Speaker--perhaps against your wishes--will have to be fasting; will have to quit their jobs working in Congress, like Erika, because her mother is facing deportation.

Is that the America we want when we look at ourselves in the mirror?

Madam Speaker, is that what we are proud of as Americans? Is that our values? Are we proud that a young, talented staff person like Erika, working on behalf of her country for her Congresswoman here in the United States Capitol has to quit her own job because our own government is deporting her own mother, who hasn't committed any criminal or violent crime? It might have cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for deportation and at the cost of tearing a family apart and preventing Erika from offering all that she had to give to our great country.

We can do better, Madam Speaker. We can do better by the handful of people in this gallery and the millions of families across this country that are demanding action now, and the hundreds of million--yes, every American man, woman, and child who stands to benefit by immediate action here in the House of Representatives.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Source