Post by bot on Jan 17, 2016 18:49:47 GMT -5
Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference on Letter to President Obama Calling for an End to ICE Raids
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined Reps. Luis Gutiérrez (IL-04), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) at a press conference today to discuss a letter sent to President Obama calling for an end to ICE raids. Below is a transcript of his remarks:
“Thank you Congressman [Luis] Gutiérrez who has been such a lion on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform, on immigration fairness, and on human rights. I want to thank, as well, [Congresswoman] Zoe Lofgren, who leads our efforts as the Ranking Member of the subcommittee that oversees [and has] with the responsibility to assure rational legislation is in place, and as a member of the Judiciary Committee, also oversees the equal justice under the law – the pledge that the United States of America makes, not only to its own citizens, but to all people. If you are in the United States, we will treat you consistent with our values and our principles and our law. So Zoe thank you for your leadership in this letter. And then to my dear, dear friend [Congresswoman] Lucille Roybal-Allard, who as I said last week, whose father was one of the mentors that I served under for many years in the Congress of the United States when I was first here. [He] was so good to me and taught me the ropes, and then his daughter came here, and he was, and still is, so very proud of her leadership and her voice. It is a quiet, but it is a very, very consistent and powerful voice. So thank you Lucille for your leadership on this.
"Look, I can’t say it better than, frankly, the letter says it. I can’t say it better than Luis just said it. Or that Lucille, who had a long discussion with me about this issue. I mentioned that I had been Chairman of the Helsinki Commission for 10 years. The Helsinki Final Act said, look you need to treat people fairly. It said it to a Soviet bloc, said it to the non-Soviet bloc. I traveled many, many years behind the Iron Curtain, saying we need to treat people fairly and consistent with your laws.
"If that was my argument there, it certainly has to be my argument here. And as Congressman Gutiérrez said, this is not about immigration, although it is, in a larger sense, about a broken system, which is why we need comprehensive immigration reform. But in this case, it is consistent with the law for people who are at risk of losing their lives, or losing their families, or substantial injury or incarceration to come to a place of refuge. That’s our principle as a country. And say, ‘Keep me safe, give me sanctuary, give me refuge from a storm of violence in which I have been caught.’ That’s what America is about for the world.
"Unfortunately, the Administration came too quickly to what I believe to be an ill-advised policy – I had a harsher word, but let me use ill-advised policy – which as I said on Friday was designed to send a message to people, ‘Don’t come here because we can’t accept everyone and we have rules and laws, and if you do we are going to deport you.’ But what they focused on were people who, as the Congressman said, came here legally seeking refuge.
"In those circumstances, the message we sent was received here in the United States by people who were not intended to be the recipients of that message. And we need to reconsider, we need to change that policy. The Administration needs to go in a different direction, and yes, send a message. But do not send a message by putting literally hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people in fear. Mothers, children, seniors, fathers seeing their families separated and wrenched apart.
"So I am very pleased to join in the signing of this letter, which simply says to the Administration: change policies. This was not the right one. It’s not what America means to us or to the world. Let’s reflect the best that’s within us and hopefully that will be the case."