Austin News

Washington, D.C. – On May 11, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) spoke on the House Floor to oppose Republicans’ so-called “Secure the Border Act,” which does nothing to fix America’s immigration system but would wreck the economy, destroy the asylum system, and criminalize visa overstays. 

To watch Rep. Doggett’s full remarks, click here.

Rep. Doggett’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

Rain can be a blessing, or a curse, depending on whether we get too much, or too little. Like water, America can be sustained – our prosperity and our strength – by the flow of people who want to come here, if they can come here legally. What Republicans rave about as a crisis, if properly addressed, represents a great opportunity for our country.  

By overcoming Republican opposition last year, we have achieved the lowest unemployment rate in America in 50 years. If every single American who is reported as unemployed today were to take a job, we would still have millions of unfilled jobs in this country. Our economy is crying out “Help Wanted,” to which Republicans respond “Keep out” and “Build a wall to wall us off from the rest of the world.” 

But we have a serious worker shortage. Our economic growth today is being slowed because so many businesses cannot find the workers they need to fulfill the needs of their customers.  

Yet just across our borders are a host of people who are looking for a job. We need construction workers, we need workers to care for the old, the ill, and the young, and restaurant and other service jobs—some are very highly skilled, and some of them are hardly skilled.  

If some immigrants could work in our country legally and go home as they needed, they would not be risking their lives in deserts, dying in dangerous rivers, and sitting on the streets of our border communities.

Certainly, we cannot take everyone who wants to come here. We need rules for orderly immigration – for fairness. They are the rules that Republicans have blocked in this Congress for years. So long as they see anti-immigrant hysteria as more valuable to them politically than finding a solution, we’re not going to get there.

Today’s vote represents just their latest refusal to accept reality, another refusal to enact a comprehensive and reasonable system for legal entry for workers.

And there is of course a humanitarian aspect. Our Dreamers, brought here as little children, now many adults, facing years of uncertainty. A nurse, a Travis County prosecutor, a teacher, many students that I have met personally, who still do not know how long they can tell their employer they can work. So much they have to contribute; multiple studies showing that they will only strengthen our economy.

And there are other families in Texas border towns today who have risked everything to escape corrupt, authoritarian governments like Venezuela. Many of them have legitimate claims for political asylum. But the Republicans have abandoned the promise of our Statue of Liberty.

America’s strength has always been found in our diversity. Let’s overcome the fear-mongering and the anti-immigrant hysteria, and do the serious, hard work of passing genuine immigration reform. Let’s turn immigration into a true win for the American people.

Original source can be found here.