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[Page H5589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE CONTINUING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. Costa) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the
continuing humanitarian crisis that is taking place at our border
between the United States and Mexico.
Despite Congress' recent effort to provide relief to thousands of
people in detention centers, children continue to be separated from
their families, and people continue suffer from a lack of basic living
standards that they need.
This is not the American way.
What is more, this administration has just announced new ICE raids in
major American cities that will solve nothing.
We need to do more. Congress needs to act and seek long-term
solutions to addressing the problems forcing people to flee their homes
and seek asylum, women and children literally moving 2,000 miles, and
they are not coming to Disneyland.
Congress needs to act. We should be focusing on attacking the problem
at its source by increasing support to Central American countries like
El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, where the majority of these
migrants are coming from.
We should not be cutting foreign aid to these countries. That just
exacerbates the problem. I asked Secretary Pompeo in a hearing of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs almost 2 months ago: Why does not the
President call a meeting with the President of Mexico and bring
together the Organization of American States to come up with a
comprehensive long-term solution to this problem?
I have spoken with the Ambassador from Mexico to the United States.
She has expressed to me the problem that they are facing at their
southern border with Guatemala. That is what we should be doing,
cooperating and working with the Mexican Government and our other
neighbors to the south.
We must also work to secure a basic standard of living for the
detention facilities to provide for immediate relief. That is why I am
cosponsoring H.R. 3239, Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in CBP
Custody, to provide house screening and emergency care, to improve
water and sanitation and hygiene standards, and to improve nutrition
and shelter standards.
These are things that we are doing in the Middle East with the
refugee relief programs for the Syrian refugees. Why would we not do
this at our own border, and increase the coordination and surge
capacity for the agencies to address what the needs are of these
migrants?
We really do have a humanitarian crisis at our border, to be sure. I
think we all recognize and understand that.
But, finally, we need to work together. We need to work together in a
bipartisan fashion. That is how Congress should operate to achieve
lasting, comprehensive immigration reform.
When I first came to Congress, I supported comprehensive immigration
reform with the Bush administration and then with the Obama
administration.
In 2013, we had a bipartisan package that was very close to passage.
As a matter of fact, I think it would have passed the House had the
Speaker at the time brought it to the floor. Unfortunately, we lost
that opportunity.
I urge my colleagues to join me in their commitment to working to
resolve this humanitarian crisis that we are facing at the border. That
is the American way. That is what we should be doing as Members of
Congress.
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