Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, voted against H.R. 6136, by Speaker Ryan and Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte. The bill failed overwhelmingly, 121-301.
"President Trump's administration has taken DACA recipients hostage and separated families in an attempt to force Congress to submit to damaging changes to our nation's legal immigration system," said Garamendi. "Fresh off the failure of the Goodlatte bill last week, Republican leadership attempted to pass a bill that's even worse--and they got the result they deserved. The bill explicitly takes DACA recipients hostage in exchange for President Trump's border wall. Even worse, the bill allows indefinite detention of migrant families, including children, without a guarantee of due process. I saw visited and investigated those facilities firsthand last Saturday: they are a moral outrage, and any immigration legislation must address this issue. This bill does not."
"This bill also makes massive, unnecessary changes and reductions to our nation's legal immigration system--changes that have nothing to do with border security or curtailing illegal border crossings. Under the harsh terms of this bill, the First Lady wouldn't even be able to sponsor her own parents for residency in the United States. This bill doesn't contain any answers to the real problems facing our immigration system--all they do is inject cruelty into a system that is already in desperate need of repair."
"Further, completely absent from this legislation is a substantive solution for California's agricultural labor shortage. I meet with farmers and ranchers from my district on an almost weekly basis who are desperate for Congress to help solve the agricultural labor problem. Unfortunately, by putting forward these two bills, the majority in Congress has chosen to turn their backs on the very people who grow our food."