'What Is The Point Of This Exercise?': Pramila Jayapal Rips Republicans For 'Cruel' Border Bill

5 months ago

In House floor remarks, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) slammed HR2.

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Transcript

00:00 I rise in strong opposition to this cruel, unworkable, and inhumane, modified version

00:24 of the Republican border bill, H.R. 2.

00:28 What is the point of this exercise?

00:30 The majority could barely pass this legislation last year over bipartisan opposition, and

00:36 now it's going to magically pass it in the House with a two-thirds majority?

00:41 Give me a break.

00:42 That's not what's happening here.

00:44 They say that when someone shows you who they are, you should believe them the first time.

00:48 Well, the majority has shown us who they are on this issue over and over and over again.

00:54 They consistently reject bipartisan solutions, including a bill that was drafted in the Senate

01:01 by the second most conservative Republican senator, and yet the majority and Republicans

01:09 in the House and the Senate decided to kill that bill.

01:12 You know why?

01:13 Because Donald Trump said, "Kill the bill because we want to keep immigration out there

01:18 as an issue that doesn't get solved, doesn't have any solutions, but has some empty talking

01:24 point messaging bills that continue to demonize immigrants and create xenophobia in a country

01:31 that has depended on immigrants to build this country and continues to."

01:37 Republicans have said it out loud over and over again.

01:39 Don't want solutions, don't want to solve problems, just want to preserve the issue

01:43 for the election.

01:44 This bill is going nowhere, so let's just be clear about that.

01:47 The situation at the border is directly linked to the fact that the legal immigration system

01:53 has been left in chaos because it has not been modernized in 30 years to meet the needs

01:59 of this country.

02:00 Who has stopped that modernization?

02:02 Republicans, over and over again.

02:04 When the legal process is so backed up that it takes decades for legal residents to get

02:09 their children into the country, when employers simply can't get the workers that they need

02:15 to hire approved because there's a backlog of 2 million people who haven't been processed,

02:21 or when we have so few immigration judges that asylum seekers wait for over eight years

02:28 to get their cases heard.

02:29 Speaker, I yield the gentlelady another 30 seconds.

02:33 When people wait, asylum seekers wait over eight years to get their cases heard, then

02:37 yeah, people turn to unscrupulous actors, including cartels, who promise them that they

02:43 can get in by going to the border.

02:44 The only people talking about the open border and encouraging people to come across the

02:48 border are Republicans who continue to put that message out there.

02:53 But are we looking for solutions, Mr. Speaker?

02:55 No, we're here debating a bill that has no chance of becoming law and is an empty messaging

03:01 bill that does absolutely nothing to reform our outdated immigration system.

03:08 Let's get back to governing.

03:09 I yield back.

'What Is The Point Of This Exercise?': Pramila Jayapal Rips Republicans For 'Cruel' Border Bill

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