Post by bot on Jun 23, 2015 12:48:00 GMT -5
Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference Following House Democrats' Visit to a
Family Detention Center in Texas
WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered the following remarks yesterday evening at a press conference with House Democrats following their visit to Karnes County Residential Center, a private family detention facility in Texas:
“One of the things we see here is a stark example of why comprehensive immigration reform is absolutely essential. There are 435 Members of the House of Representatives – all 435 believe that the immigration system is broken. And the failure to address, in a comprehensive way, immigration reform is a failure of the Congress of the United States. The United States Senate [in the 113th Congress], of course, passed a comprehensive bill. I am very hopeful that the House of Representatives can follow suit.
“That will not solve all of the problems, but I am very pleased that [Rep.] Luis Gutiérrez and [Rep.] Lucille Roybal-Allard invited me to come on this delegation. I wanted to be here with them. I signed the letter [to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson] saying that we had concerns about conditions. This is not the first prison I’ve been in. I’ve been in prisons a lot as a lawyer… I’ve been in prisons in many countries of the world. I’ve been in detention facilities and [in] every one of those, I have urged those who run those facilities to treat the detainees or the imprisoned in a humane manner. That is what we ought to expect of ourselves.
“And these women were compelling in their stories, in the abuse that they have been subjected to, the threats they have been subjected to. Now all three of the women we talked to were from Honduras, and our State Department knows that Honduras is one of the – if not the – most violent, dangerous nations in the world, so it should come as no surprise that a mother with small children would want [her] children out of such an environment, a gang-infested, threatening families, children, and all the citizens. So, I appreciate very much [Rep.] Lucille Roybal-Allard, whose dad was a mentor of mine in the Congress of the United States, and [Rep.] Luis Gutiérrez, who has been the extraordinary leader in this country on behalf of immigration reform, [for inviting me].”
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