Ranking Member Thompson Floor Statement in Opposition to H.R. 2, the Child Deportation Act
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(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives in opposition to H.R. 2, the Child Deportation Act:
This cruel, inhumane, and unworkable bill was written in an extreme MAGA Republican echo chamber.
Consideration of H.R. 2 today — under a closed rule — is a cynical move on the part of Republicans to exploit the operational challenges associated with the lifting of title 42 public health restrictions. Republicans have a short memory. Just in February, they voted to lift title 42 when they voted to lift the COVID-19 health emergency.
It sets Customs and Border Protection up for failure by shifting all processing to ports of entry without providing any additional resources. To make matters worse, it would bar CBP from leveraging technology to process migrants in an orderly way. H.R. 2 doesn’t fund a single new officer at our ports of entry, where more than 90 percent of fentanyl is interdicted. In Committee, we tried to get an additional 1,700 officers to build greater capacity but Republicans refused to do it.
Furthermore, this xenophobic bill would strip DHS funding from any community or religious organization that helps migrants. The language is so broad that an organization that places water in remote areas of the desert or provides a pregnant mother a safe place to sleep would be ineligible for DHS funding. It is so broad that they may be refused homeland security grants to help protect their facilities. Denying assistance to non-profits is just shameful, particularly after what we saw in Brownsville this weekend.
There is reporting that the man who rammed his SUV into a crowd outside a migrant shelter, killing 8 and injuring at least 10 others, was fueled by “invasion” and “alien” rhetoric. My heart goes out to everyone hurt by this senseless act of violence. The language in this bill is so far-reaching that it would force the American Red Cross to verify every person’s immigration status before providing life-saving services. Can you imagine if they had to say “Show us your papers!” before evacuating people? That’s just inhumane.
And get this, H.R. 2 is so broadly written that it would actually impede detention and deportation. Fox News viewers who support deporting migrants should take a look at section 115(c) in Division A. If enacted, it would prohibit DHS from contracting with any “nongovernmental organization” to transport or shelter “inadmissible aliens”. This language would prevent ICE from contracting with private companies to facilitate deportations or provide detention space because those companies are nongovernmental organizations. Yes, you heard that right, this bill is so poorly written that it could actually prevent ICE from deporting people.
Over the next two hours, Democrats will discuss many other problematic provisions of this extreme MAGA bill that Republicans cobbled together and that we learned yesterday would blow a $6.1 billion hole in the budget.
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