Rep. Huffman Votes Against Anti-Immigrant Agenda; Pushes for Compassionate Immigration Policies

June 27, 2018

Washington, D.C.- Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) today voted against H.R. 6136, a Republican anti-immigrant bill negotiated by Speaker Paul Ryan, that fails to solve the family separation crisis created by President Trump, expands on President Trump’s “zero tolerance” anti-immigration agenda while making legal family immigration more difficult, and continues to put DREAMers in jeopardy. The bill was rejected by a bipartisan margin of 121-301, and followed an earlier – and even more extreme – Republican immigration proposal rejected last week by the House.

In voting against these two partisan bills, Rep. Huffman called instead for the enactment of comprehensive and forward-looking immigration policies, and for a return to proven, community-based alternatives to detention that are humane and far more cost-effective than long-term detention.  Instead of allowing only the most extreme, partisan, anti-immigrant bills to come to the floor, Huffman called on Speaker Ryan to allow a vote on the Keep Families Together Act to ban the abhorrent practice of family separation, and on the bipartisan Dream Act to permanently protect the young people whose futures have been jeopardized by President Trump’s termination of the DACA program.

“We cannot accept the moral atrocity of tearing children away from their parents, or President Trump’s latest unconscionable proposal to incarcerate families indefinitely in Korematsu-style internment camps,” said Rep. Huffman. “This is a humanitarian crisis created by Trump, enabled by an enfeebled Republican Congress, and now they are trying to use these children and families as bargaining chips.  Today’s vote proves that this radical anti-immigrant agenda will not succeed.  House Republicans should snap out of their partisan stupor, and work with Democrats on real fixes to our nation’s broken immigration system.  We should start by ending Trump’s family separation crisis and taking action to finally protect the DREAMers.”

Rep. Huffman is working to address the humanitarian crises exacerbated by President Trump by:

  • Cosponsoring the Keep Families Together Act and the Dream Act;
  • Calling on the House Appropriations Committee to restrict funds from being used to separate families;
  • Sending a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services to demand answers from the Trump administration on plans to reunited children separated from their families; and
  • Joining with colleagues working on robust legislation to keep Central American families together and address root causes of violence.

Speaker Ryan’s anti-immigration bill would:

  • Carry out the President’s immoral order, trading the barbaric policy of family separation for a policy of indefinite family detention;
  • Make it legal to lock up children and families in cages in unlicensed jails indefinitely;
  • Destroy all court-ordered protections for children’s health and safety, such as clean drinking water, working toilets and medical assistance, in a clear violation of children’s human rights; and
  • Remove legal protections that guarantee children access to a judge or lawyer before applying for asylum or being deported.

Last week, Rep. Huffman voted against H.R. 4760, the first of the two immigration bills proposed by Republican leadership, which failed to pass the House of Representatives by a vote of 193-231.

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