Sham impeachments won't solve our border problems
I came to this country as a young child and became a citizen in my early twenties. Becoming an American was the greatest honor of my life and I am eternally grateful for all this country has provided for me and my family.
I have experienced our immigration system firsthand and that is why I come to work in Washington, D.C. every day to find real, common-sense solutions for the issues we are facing today. When I was growing up, I knew what a privilege it was to be in this country, and I have committed my life to giving back to the community that has led me to where I am today.
During this first year in Congress, I've witnessed how divisive Congress can be. Instead of passing laws that would help the American people, some in Congress have focused their efforts on impeaching our duly elected President and his cabinet officials. The United States is better than this.
We are a nation of immigrants. Our core values exemplify those of a nation that understands that our strength comes from our diversity. From serving as our teachers to our doctors to being our neighbors, immigrants are integral to our communities around the country. Congress knows this, and that is why we are working to find a solution for our issues at the border and within our immigration system as a whole.
Despite all of the work we are doing to find a solution, let's be clear about the latest impeachment effort against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas: it's a waste of time and completely baseless.
The president and Secretary Mayorkas have offered legislative proposals — including a comprehensive immigration reform plan on day one, and are seeking additional funding for more Border Patrol agents and border technology — but many on the right don't want to come to the table.
Speaker Johnson himself is going on Fox News and stating that he's taking orders from Donald Trump on the border; the same Donald Trump who speaks about immigrants with the same rhetoric that Hitler did, claiming that immigrants like me and my family, and I quote, “pollute the blood of this country.”
This is not what our country stands for. We are better than this.
Let's be clear about what is happening: Secretary Mayorkas is dealing with the fallout of historic crises in Latin America.
Venezuela has completely collapsed. Ecuador is dealing with a historic gang crisis. Cuba and Haiti are facing historic crises too. The whole region is struggling to recover from extreme weather, droughts and COVID-19.
Meanwhile, our historic economic recovery has created a huge demand for workers. The reality is that all of these factors impact conditions at our border.
This spike in migration started under Donald Trump. Border Patrol apprehensions more than tripled in the last eight months of Trump's presidency, rising from 21,593 in May 2020 to 71,141 in December.
We have real challenges along the border, but they require smart and humane solutions. Let's remember: We can have plans for a more secure and efficient border while also treating immigrants with the respect and dignity they deserve. We can have both.
I cannot emphasize this enough: there is no magic solution or easy fix to the problems we are seeing without legal pathways and without addressing push factors.
We all want an orderly and safe border. We want people to be able to come to this country, to contribute to our communities and to build better lives like my family did.
We need a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients and migrants who have invested their entire lives in the United States. We owe them a real solution after all they have given to contribute to our communities. We also need guest worker programs that work and meaningful aid to Latin America to address the factors pushing so many people out of their homes in the first place.
President Biden understands this, and that's why in his first month in office he sent an immigration proposal to Congress. His proposal, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, provides pathways to citizenship, strengthens labor protections and grows our economy by clearing employment-based visa backlogs. President Biden's proposal also prioritizes smart border controls by investing in border communities and funding for DHS to be able to stop drugs from being brought across the border.
Immigrants are some of the most patriotic and hardestworking people. Together, I'm hopeful we can create humane, legal pathways for immigrants and a safe and secure border.