Delia Ramirez — Homeland Security Full Committee Hearing February 28, 2023

Thank

Speaker 1: you, Chairman. We've heard a lot of fear-mongering and name-calling today. And

I have

Speaker 1: to say, every time our undocumented community is referred to as illegals and criminals, it shows how my Republican colleagues choose to recognize or not recognize someone's basic humanity. And it's a choice

A

Speaker 1: policy choice with real consequences. As the only, only member of Congress

in a mixed status family

Speaker 1: you are saying that my family, my husband and I should be broken apart. Today's hearing is called Every State is a Border State. And it's clear that the intention is to stake fear and

hate. I am

Speaker 1: proud to represent the people of Illinois, third congressional district, all people regardless of their status. 12 million of our neighbors are still lacking legal status and they're facing deportation right now. To be absolutely

Speaker 2: clear, and I wanna make sure it's on

the record

Speaker 2: we need humane, comprehensive immigration reform and we need it now

We need to

Speaker 2: uphold the

Speaker 3: right to

asylum, And in

Speaker 3: the meantime, we need protections in place against deportation and we need work permits issued for all 12 million people. Mr. Byer, there are approximately 600,000 DACA recipients. They pay $6.2 billion in federal taxes and $3.3 billion in state and local taxes every single year. DACA recipients, like my husband Boris, aren't children anymore. Many of them are parents themselves, they're homeowners, they're teachers, they're child care workers, they work in our hospitals. These numbers don't even count the many undocumented immigrants who are not DACA recipients, who pay payroll taxes, who pay into Social Security, but can't claim the benefits themselves. I strongly support protecting and expanding Social

Security

Speaker 3: and at a time when some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would even consider cutting Social Security, what are the consequences of

Speaker 4: deportations on our country's ability to keep Social Security solvent

Speaker 5: Look, the Social Security Administration estimates that we have a shortfall of about 70 million people that we will need by 2050 to keep payments in line with the revenues that they're receiving. So deporting 10 million people would certainly not be in the interest of maintaining social security payments. Obviously people who are in this country are paying taxes. You mentioned the payroll taxes. The vast majority of these people are working through borrowed identification or other means by which they ultimately do pay taxes. So it's not the case that

all

Speaker 6: people who are working under the table. That's not how it happens in most cases

Speaker 7: Thank you. So let's talk about the border. For those of you that know me, know my story well, my mother

Speaker 2: crossed the border 39 years ago pregnant of me. If it weren't because she crossed the border escaping poverty, nearly dying, escaping rape and all the things that she experienced

This

Speaker 2: woman here wouldn't be the first Latina in the Midwest in Congress. So first I want to say thank you to all of the people who courageously risk

Speaker 8: everything so that they can escape poverty and save their lives, coming to a place where we call America that we love so much

Many

Speaker 2: immigrants arriving at the southwest border are fleeing dire situations right now. And they're making that journey through jungles and through deserts to the border extremely vulnerable. Recently, the administration proposed a rule limiting migrants' eligibility to apply for asylum with CBP's 1 app. Now let me ask you, if they traveled through another country before arriving to the U.S. border and did not seek

Speaker 8: asylum first

like a

Speaker 8: similar measure that was attempted with the Trump administration

and

Speaker 8: the courts didn't allow, what

Speaker 2: would happen to an asylum seeker who did not have access to a smartphone or

Speaker 8: couldn't use the CBP One App application? Well

if they

Speaker 9: crossed the border illegally, because that would be their only other option, then

Speaker 5: they would be removed. The administration is talking about removing people to Mexico again, possibly removing people to their home country if they can. In either case, what we've seen under Remain in Mexico in Title 42 too, is that when you ban asylum and you send people back to Mexico, they recross the border illegally, it creates a more dangerous and less secure border. We keep hearing about these evasions. Well, if people can request asylum and enter this country legally, then we do not have this problem

Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Barr. I would just end in saying that we have to stop criminalizing people and we have to get to the root cause of the problems. That's what I intend to do as a committee. I yield back

Chairman