>> the house considered two immigration reform bills. the first was sponsored by bob goodlatte and was voted down by the house. it would have provided funding for a border wall, end the diversity visa lottery program, and allowed daca recipients to apply for legal status. here is some of the debate on that bill. mr. goodlatte: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i introduced h.r.

4670 along with michael mccaul, for labrador, to provide illegal aliens who grew up in america after their parents brought them here as children. just as importantly we want to strengthen our borders, curtail endemic fraud and enhance interior immigration enforcement so our nation won't face the same dilemma in a few years. president trump did the right thing and tried to end president obama's blatantly unconstitutional daca program. as a federal court ruled in enjoining daca's sister program, d.h.s. can -- cannot enact a program whereby it not only ignores the dictates of congress but actively acts to thwart them. the d.h.s. secretary is not just rewriting the law, he's creating them from scratch, end quote. president trump also did the right thing by immediately turning to us, asking congress

to fix the problem. he asked for h.r. 4760. as he asked for, h.r. 4760 solves the daca conundrum. it provides daca beneficiaries with an indefinitely renewable legal nonimmigrant status, allowing them to live and work in the united states without worry and travel abroad as they choose. it also allows them to receive green cards on the same terms as any other intending immigrant around the world. as i indicated, the bill will help ensure that the distressing daca dilemma does not recur. it ends catch and release at the border. battles asylum fraud. and ensures that unaccompanied minors caught at the border will be treated equally regardless of their home country. it will ensure that the law no longer tempts minors and their parents to make the dangerous, ill list journey to the united states and to line the pockets

of cancerous cartels with hundreds of millions of dollars. the bill will also take away the other magnet that draws millions of persons to come to the u.s. illegally -- the jobs magnet. through the inclusion of lamar smith's legal work force act, it makes e-verify mandatory. after two decades of constant improvement, e-verify has become an extremely effective, reliable, and easy way for employers to ensure that they have hired a legal work force. three quarters of a billion employers currently use e-verify which almost instantaneously confirms the work eligibility of new hires 99% of the time. the bill will also allow d.h.s. to deport members of ms-13 and other virulent criminal gangs and allow it to detain dangerous aliens who cannot be removed. it will combat the public safety

me nass of sanctuary cities in multiple ways, include big allowing the justice department to withhold from them law enforcement grants. the bill makes significant reforms to our legal immigration system. it puts an end to extended family chain myfwration and terminates the diversity visa green card lottery which awards green cards at random to people with no ties to the united states or any particular skills. in addition, it replaces the dysfunctional h-2-a guest worker program they have h-2-a program is slow, bureaucratic, and often forces growers to leave crops to rot in the fields. they also must pay an artificially inflated wage rate along with providing free housing and transportation. in doing the right thing, h-2-a users are almost always repaid by being placed at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. the bill provides growers with

streamlined access to guest workers when sufficient american labor cannot be found. it finally provides dairies and food processors with year-round labor needs with access to a guest worker program. it avoids the pitfalls of the h-2-a program and will remain at its core a true guest worker program. as growers learned the hard way after the 1986 amnesty, illegal farm workers will leave enmeas and flock to the cities when -- will leave en masse and flock to the cities. the guest worker program in this t is supported by the farm industry, the dairy industry and over 200 organizations across the united states. i have sat down with think colleagues for months to learn of any concerns to strive to improve the bill. the product of this intensive work is better legislation. while i amties appointed --

disappointed that the rule didn't allow me to include all the improvements made possible by the input of so many members i'm gratified that i could include the refinements to the h--c agricultural guest worker program. to give just one example, the bill now clarifies that the department of homeland security will issue documents to unlawful alien farm workers who have been sponsored by growers to join the program authorizing them to return to the u.s. without the need for visas after completing their initial touchbacks this will create certainty for growers, allowing them to receive preray aprufle of their h-2-c petitions for current workers before they leave the country and precertification of the workers' admission back into the u.s. before they leave. congress has a unique opportunity to act before the country ends up with another large population of -- who cross the border illegally as

children. let's take this historic moment to come together and support vital legislation that provides commonsense, reasonable solutions. i urge my colleagues to join president trump and support h.r. 4760. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler. mr. nadler: i yield myself three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nadler: i strongly oppose h.r. 4760. this legislation is nothing more than a wish list of the far right, anti-immigrant fringe. it will do nothing to solve the real problems making our -- plaguing our immigration system while causing untold suffering for millions of people. the world watched president trump create a family separation crisis out of thin air. i personally met with fathers whose children have been ripped from their arms, who of no idea when or if they'll ever see their children again. one father i spoke to was

promised he would be kept with his young child only to have officers enter his room in the middle of the night and forcibly take away his young daughter. we've all seen the anguished faces of the parents separated from their children. and listened to the desperate cries of sobbing children screaming for their parents. this is government sponsored child abuse. this bill does absolutely nothing to solve the crisis. the president, after falsely claiming he has no choice but to enact this cruel and brutal policy, now says he will end it. proving he and his administration were lying all along. it is not clear that yesterday's executive order immediately ends family separation. it also puts our country on a dangerous path of prolonged detention for parents and children. the keeping families together act which i introduced this week along with virtually every democratic member would actually prevent children from being separated from their parents. except in extraordinary circumstances. we can vote on that legislation today but instead we have this

bill before us now. this bill turns all undock yimetted immigrant into criminals. it takes particular aim at families, children, workers, businesses, public safety and our fundamental values as a nation. all at once. it is almost impressive how many bad ideas have been crammed into one comprehensive package. for example, it eliminates most visa cat girs that 3r0 mote -- promote family reunification as well as the diversity visa program which provides residents of many countries the only method of entering the united states. it removes critical protections for unaccompanied children and does away for safeguards for children traveling with their parents. it would decimate the agriculture industry by the ing employers to use e-verify system without fixing the underlying problems.

in exchange for all these harsh anti-immigrant provisions it offers the most minimal protection to dreamers, creating a renewable, temporary status with no path to citizenship, leaving them in perpetual limbo, unable to become full members of society in the only country they've ever known. this is an act of extortion we cannot abide. this bill fails to repair our broken immigration system and indeed in many ways makes it worse. and all without substantially helping the dreamers. i urge my colleagues to reject this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. members are reminded from engaging in personalities toward the president. -- entleman from virginia

is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. smith, who is the author of an important provision in this bill related to electronic verification of employment and former chairman of the house judiciary committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: let me thank mr. goodlatte for all that he has done to advance immigration reform during this congress. i do support h.r. 4760, securing america's future act. this legislation ensures that our immigration policies put the interests of americans first. . we need to thank not only chairman goodlatte but others who put time and effort in thregs. we appreciate mr. good -- in this legislation. we appreciate mr. goodlatte to help improve our immigration system. any immigration reform considered by congress must at a minimum secure our borders,

implement work force verification to end the illegal jobs magnet, reduce chain migration, prevent abuse of our asylum laws. securing america's future act includes all of these necessary provisions. and the bill delivers on the president's pledge to voters to complete physical barriers along our southern border, penalize lawless sanctuary cities, and end the obama administration's catch-and-release policies that releases dangerous criminal individuals to our streets to prey on innocent americans. a special interest to me is the inclues of the legal work force act in the bill, which requires all new employees work eligibility to be verified. this will reduce illegal immigration and save jobs for american workers. also important is the deadline to finally implement an entry-exit tracking system to identify visa overstayers. they comprise half of the almost

one million illegal new immigrants every year. securing america's future act helps keep our communities safe and protects american workers. it deserves our enthusiastic support, and, again, i want to thank chairman goodlatte for offering this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: madam chairperson, i now yield three minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the immigration subcommittee, ms. lofgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for three minutes. ms. lofgren: it's an anti-immigration bill. it slashes immigration. it criminalizes almost the people. documented it fails to provide a pathway to legal permanent residence for dreerms. sometimes my friends across the

aisle say, the problem with the immigration, we don't have assimilation. you don't get assimilation when you create a permanent underclass of people who are americans in every way but their paperwork. it eliminates family-based categories, and this is the relatives of americans, american citizens and legal permanent residents, forget it, you're not going to be able to get your family members in if this bill passes. it mandates the use of e-verify, which will be highly disruptive to restaurants, hotels, and other industries. and the changes in the ag worker provision are just a fig leaf. the bill transforms a civil law violation into a crime so that undocumented immigrants, including the parents of dreamers, the bill purports to help, become criminals overnight. it would accelerate separation of kids from parents when 11

million american workers suddenly become subject to prosecution. undermining our asylum system by establishing impossibly high evidentiary burdens, it removes protection, as i said, and it does nothing to reunite the thousands of children who've been taken away from their parents at the border. instead, it facilitates putting mothers in the cages with their toddlers. so why are we debating a bill that nearly everyone, even many in the republican party, think is a terrible idea? i fear it's because very extreme elements of the republican party have become the loudest and the most powerful. i continue to have faith in the good people of our country. the american people spoke out loudly against president trump's family separation policy. policy. dn't

they couldn't stand seeing little children, babies and toddlers ripped from their mother's arms. we saw a reversal, but it is not a solution, because locking up mothers, putting those mothers in the cages with their toddlers is not the solution to this problem. we're not going to let hate red, bigotry, xenophobia prevail in this country. i urge a no vote on this bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: madam chairman, i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. gutierrez. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. mr. gutierrez: the re-election strategy or every single member of congress is to stand strong. with a president willing to take children from their parents in order to look mean and nasty and cruel. for ildren who are fleeing

their lives. you own that. that is your campaign strategy. as of today, republicans want to put the children in the same jails as the parents and fight to hold them indefinitely and demand we charge asylum seekers as criminals and jail them with their children. the more than 2,300 children who have been taken from their parents and put in a vast system, spread over thousands of miles, we just don't know if those children will ever see their families again. you own that too. that is what you are campaigning on to save your jobs this coming november. taking daca away from dreamers, that's your policy too. and then putting bills on the floor to cut legal immigration and build a wall, your strategy to blame democrats for what you are doing. republicans want to be both the arsonist and the firefighters and you can't be both. i don't blame speaker ryan and

chairman goodlatte. they are not bad people. they are both decent men of faith who have been put in position of defending policies that are cruel, inhumane, and run deeply contrary to the will of the american people and the values of our nation. this must be morally wrenching for them, but honestly, i have little sympathy. each has made a devil's bargain to trade their reputation for steven miller's agenda and donald trump's name. legal immigration, no. an asylum policy that protects human policies, no. daca to protect dreamers, no. policies that treats wife beating, rape, human trafficking as matters for us to protect women, no. a nation of immigrants, no. all they want is a wall. the republican party is no longer home for decent men and women of values, faith, and conscience. both are leaving us with one last commitment, to put the needs of this erratic president

above the will of the people and above the good of our nation. at some point someone needs to stop complimenting the emperor on his new set of clothes and start telling the president he's naked. covering his rear end from all the lies, the deceit, and the soullessness is no longer sustainable. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president and to direct their remarks to the chair. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume to respond to some of the false charges we're hearing here. first off, with regard to e-verify, there is a misconception that it's our intention to mannedify e-verify to agriculture simultaneously.

the ag act, under that act, e-verify will not be mandated for agriculture until the h-2-c is properly up and running and no sooner than 24 months after enactment of the legislation. in addition, e-verify will only apply to future hires. secondly, i want to respond to those who complain about what we're doing for the daca recipients in this legislation. i want to make it very, very clear. we're going to do something that's legal, something that's constitutional for them. instead of something that was illegal and unconstitutional and it's going to be superior in this bill to what was done for them there because they will be allowed to remain in the united states permanently. renewing every three years. not xcluded if they do meet certain criteria. and the fact of the matter is, we will have an opportunity for them to avail themselves of existing pathways to citizenship.

if they are married to a united states citizen, as it would be logical that a great many of these daca recipients are because of the fact they've grown up here, they will be able to benefit from that. they could not do that under the obama executive order. so this is much better than how the democrats have treated the daca recipients. secondly, under the agriculture work force, the status quo is sustainable for american agriculture. whether the work force is sustainable for american agriculture. under current law in california and other states, farmers are facing chronic employee shortages. last fall, the california farm bureau announced the results of its informal survey of its members. the survey showed 69% of those surveyed were experiencing labor hortdls falls -- shortfalls. they still can't find enough willing and qualified employees.

california farm bureau president paul winger said farmers have offered higher wages, benefits, and more year-round jobs. they have tried to mechanize operations where possible and even changed crops or left ground idle but employee shortages persist. the labor force status quo is simply unsustainable for american agriculture. clearly, this is not a situation that's going to be solved by granting permanent resident status to farm workers. in fact, that's what's the opposite what's needed. it will not do anything to ensure that farmers and ranchers have access to the labor they need for years to come. it is shortsighted and does not -- and does nothing to relieve employers of legal farm workers, of the unnecessary burdens and competitive disadvantage they face under the outdated h-26rbings-a programs. -- h-2-a programs. to ensure that our meat and

produce continue to be grown in america and that our nation's agriculture industries thrives in the global marketplace, the u.s. needs a flexible, workable, fair guest worker program like the h-2-c program established in the ag act and contained in the legislation we are debating right now. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: madam chair person, i now yield one person to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. ellison. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for one minute. mr. ellison: i thank the gentleman for the time. i ask my colleagues to stand if full opposition to h.r. 4760. first of all, let me say that the only thing that the president's executive order shows is that he is willing to rip families apart unless it costs him politically. if there's a political price to pay, then he'll back up and try to confuse what's really going

on. but at the end of the day, this zero tolerance policy is absolutely wrong, and we have to end it now. you know, making unlawful presence a crime is probably a violation of international law. this bill, this bill makes it difficult, makes it impossible for people who are seeking asylum to come here and try to get their cases adjudicated. they're running, in many cases, from the most abominable situations imagine. they need to know that america is a place to come to if you are seeking refuge. to build this wall, we will never allow that. we will never agree to that. we will oppose it with everything we can. it's a symbol of hate and division. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman's time has expired. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, may i inquire how much time remains on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia has eight minutes.

the gentleman from new york has 11 minutes. mr. goodlatte: i'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. i now yield -- i now yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. correa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. correa: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the distinguished gentleman from new york, congressman nadler, for this opportunity to speak on this bill. mr. speaker, i was hired to work across the aisle to come to washington to get things done to fix problems. earlier this month, we had a discharge petition that we needed two more signatures that would have given us the opportunity here on this floor to vote on four immigration bills under the queen of the hill rule. essentially that means whatever bill gets more votes moves ahead. among those four bills was mr. goodlatte's bill. of course, also, one of those

bills was the aguilar-hurd bill that was a product of both democrats and republicans coming together working on a solution. unfortunately, we weren't given the opportunity to vote on all these four bills, and the current bill on the floor today does not offer a pathway to citizenship for dreamers and, of course, it does not address the current problem of reuniting children who are separated from their families. i ask my colleagues, please reject this legislation. i ask the speaker to have the opportunity to vote on the aguilar-hurd bill. thank you. mr. goodlatte: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from idaho, mr. lab dore, the chairman of the immigration border security of the judiciary committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from idaho is ecognized for three

recognized for three minutes. mr. labrador: this bill provides the tools needed to enforce our immigration laws, eis cure our borders and begin the process of reforming our legal immigration system while also ensuring generous protection for daca recipients. enforcement remains key to our system. without enforcement, our laws have little effect. this bill targets criminal gangs, dangerous aliens, and the sanctuary policy that allow these public safety threats to thrive. the bill also provides a permanent solution for daca recipients. they can apply to receive a three-year, indefinitely renewable visa so they can live and work in the united states forever as long as they abide by the laws. this permanent status gives daca recipients more surety than president obama's temporary program ever did. the bill will finally make good our commitment to grant our

owers and other workers, a workable agricultural guest worker program. the lack of a reliable source of labor in our -- when american work force is simply not available is imperiling the future of american agriculture. the h-2-c program will be a true guest worker program to allow the current agricultural work force to participate on the same terms and conditions as any other workers around the world. the program is endorsed by the american farm bureau, it's a critical part of this bill. finally, it closes the loopholes that have allowed fraud to destroy the integrity of our asylum system. by raising the credible fear stan dand and sending a clear frivolityat fraud and will not be tolerated in the united states. s that good bill and i urge

every member to support it. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from michigan, mrs. lawrence. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman veck -- the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. lawrence: i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 4760, the securing america's future act. instead of working in a bipartisan manner like open rules committee hearings, this members of this body now must vote on two bills that will hurt immigrant families and communities by worsening the family separation crisis on the border and funding the border wall. h.r. 7060 is a highlight anti-immigration bill that fails to provide permanent path to citizenship if our -- for our dreamers and makes family reunification much more difficult. it provides 25 -- it provides

$25 billion for the trump wall. this is why we're going to be confronted with a farm bill that cuts food for starving and poor children in america. it would expand the family separation and harm children. mr. speaker, this is not the america i know. this bill is nothing more than than an attempt to appease administration and the most extreme -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york reserves this egentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. nadler: i yield two minutes to the ranking member of the crime subcommittee the gentlelady from texas, ms. jackson lee.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is ecognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding and it certainly saddens me to have to come and to call legislation harsh. and cruel. for if there's anything we should do in a bipartisan ar frankly nonpartisan manner, it should be a compliment to the statue of liberty which over the centuries has been the standard bearer of the values and virtues of this nation. i'm saddened that we have come to a point, having worked on the judiciary committee with outstanding leaders like my ranking member, my chairman, the

subcommittee ranking, ms. lofgren, for many years on real immigration reform. here we are today. let me tell you why i'm opposed to this. it may be because i represent americans. americans who are in the 18th congressional district in texas. it may be because we're the most, one of the most diversed cities, maybe the most diverse city in the nation. we have haitians, freem europe, those who are latino, from the caribbean and africans and many, many more. we have those from europe. here's what this bill will do. it will quash any opportunity for mom and dad to bring in extended family members, citizen mom and dad to bring in their family members. it ends, it ends legal immigration of what we have called the values of america, family reunification. at the same time, the ugly name

that's been given to diversity visas is not true. those who come through the diversity visa from small country, should we discriminate against small countries? have the highest level of education and go into medicine and science and try to help. and then there is no relief for daca. people who are military. paramedics. lawyers. teachers. we are dependent upon them, having grown up here, loving the nation, pledging to the united states flag. the speaker pro tempore: the jerusalem tees -- the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: it is a sin and a shame that we have an administration. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. nadler: i yield the gentlelady 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. ms. yk lee: i thank the kind gentleman. then as we have not done anything for daca, we have not done anything for the children snatched away from their families. the children that i saw for two

days in the border at texas. roger who i held in my hands, maybe a 2-year-old like this what it does is, it does nothing to reunite the children, it does nothing after 20 days to be able to protect them because the fake executive order does not go beyond 20 days and frackly we don't know where the 2,000 children are and i know the values of the faith community in america. i'm saddened that we have -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. barton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. for two minutes. mr. barton: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of the pending legislation before us. i believe it's very important that we show that we do want to

address this issue and i think the goodlatte-mccal bill does that in a humane -- mccall bill does that in a humane way. we have an issue of separation of children that's arisen in the border that the -- at the border in the last week or so. the trump policy is not any different on painer than the obama policy was. what is different is the way it's been covered. and president trump has realized that something needs to be done differently and has signed an executive order yesterday to that effect. i personally think that we ought to go back to the original policy where if you wanted political asylum you applied at the embassy or consulate in your home country. if you bring your children and you march them across the deserts of mexico and bring them all the way to the texas border, you do get a court hearing but i would say we give that court hearing back in their country of origin. and if we have to send them back

at taxpayer expense, we deduct the cost from existing aid packages that we're giving to those home countries that way they don't have to come all the way to the texas border or the california border or the arizona border, the new mexico border. in order to get their day in court. they wait in their home country and then they get their day in court there. nobody wants to separate families. but it is the parents who bring the children with them. it's not the united states government that's forcing those parents to try to come to this country illegally and bring chair children. the goodlatte bill funds border security. it begins to solve some of the issues of the lottery system. i personally think it's much better to have a merit-based immigration system than a lottery system. where you're -- you just happen to, luck of the draw, come into the united states card.

i thinks that good piece of legislation. and i hope we pass it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. barton: i thank the chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york has 6 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. nadler: 6 1/2? and the other side. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia has four minutes remaining. mr. nadler: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from california, ms. chu. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. chu: i rise in strong opposition to this cruel and -- cruel anti-immigrant bill this bill is so bad they want to destroy legal immigration to this country. for decades, our immigration laws were discriminatory, favoring nor dick and western europeans, restricting italians and jews, and banning the chinese completely. finally in 1965, during the civil rights era, senator ted

kennedy ushered in a fairer immigration system based on family reunification. because this system brings families together, immigrant households are less likely to rely on public benefits and imgrants are often buying homes and starting businesses at a faster rate. now with this bill republicans are trying to undo that process and make america white again. worse, they are tearing families apart to do this while trump and republicans are ripping parents from children at the border, they're trying to do the same through our immigration laws. his war on families must stop. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: i continue trow serve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is ecognized. mr. nadler: madam speaker,

afternoon the u.s. chamber of commerce sent an alert to moves congress that said cuts to legal immigration in this bill are bad news for states. i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. takano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. takano: i rise in strong opposition to the securing america's future act. it is obscene to bring this deeply flawed bill to the floor when thousands of children have been ripped from their parents. americans across the country are outraged over the trump administration's actions to separate families at the border. and trump's answer -- an execive order that cages families indefinitely and will be immediately challenged in court. unfortunately, this bill before us would do nothing to stop any of them. instead, it criminalizes every undocumented man, woman, and child in this country and subjects them to the same cruel policy being played out at our border. it is shocking we're even

considering this bill. let's be on the right side of thist history. let's stop tearing families apart. let's stop caging people fleeing violence. i urge my colleagues to do the right thing and defeat this repugnant bill. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from new york is ecognized. mr. nadler: i now yield one minute to the gentlelady from california, ms. lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. ms. lee: thank you very much. thank you to our ranking member for yielding, i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 4760. this is an anti-immigrant bill, plain and timple. it fails to provide a pathway to citizenship for dreamers. it dismantles family immigration. it ends the important diversity visa lottery program. it funds $30 billion for trump's

border wall and fails to address the horrible zero tolerance policy. why are we moving forward with a bill that does not address the malicious detention of families seeking asylum? a bill that does nothing to reyibet the 2,300 children separated from their parents? these policies are really a disgrace and stain on our country. just imagine the horrors of these families fleeing violence, domestic abuse. but we're not providing refugees, no. our government, our government has been ripping children out of the arms of parents. we're holding kids in cages. and now the trump administration wants to leave whole families, including young children in jail for extended periods of time, locking up kids is child abuse. the violation of their human rights. we must ensure that these children are reunited with their families. i urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill and as my colleague, congresswoman chu said, it is about making america white again. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expire. the gentleman from virginia continues to reserve.

the gentleman from new york is recognized. . mr. nadler: madam chairperson, i now yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you, mr. ranking member. this bill does many things, but the one thing that itnot do is heal the wound -- that it does not do is heal the wound of the soul of america. it does not provide a pathway for these babies to return home o their parents. this bill is about as bad as it

can can get if you care about what you see in this picture. children should not become the tools of the trade for politicians. this this bill bill legitimatize chi as the tools of the trade. we cannot pass it. we should not pass it. rethink what we're doing to this country. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. nadler: how much time has each side got, mr. speaker. ret the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york has 2 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from virginia has four minutes. mr. nadler: i yield now 1 1/2 minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the immigration subcommittee, ms. lofgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. ms. lofgren: mr. speaker, this bill is a step in the wrong direction in so many ways.

i wish that we had had an opportunity to sit down, reason together, and come up with a plan that really serves our country. didn't -- that didn't happen. here's what the result was. the chamber of commerce has just reported that the didn't - they have relied on indicates that if this bill became law the u.s. would lose $319 billion in g.d.p. that would be the impact, according to the u.s. chamber of commerce, for adopting this bill. i wonder what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are really doing. by turning every undocumented person in the united states currently a civil law violation into a a crime we're now creating 11 million prosecution pportunities, at the same time

"the washington post" is just reporting, and i quote, this is the headline, trump administration will stop prosecuting migrant parents who cross "the washington post" is just the border illegally with s is children, official says. what are we doing here? we're doing a bill that would incarcerate families and children to pursue a policy that the administration now says they don't intend to pursue. the border i don't have a lot of trust in the trump administration because it changes daily. but i will say -- if i may have an additional 10 seconds. mr. nadler: an additional 30 seconds to the gentlelady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. ms. lofgren: i would urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to take a step back here. your president has left you out on a limb. he just sawed that limb off for a bill that does damage to the country for a policy that he

now is apparently abandoned. this is a ridiculous situation here. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: i believe i have the right to close and i'm the only remaining speaker. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. nadler: i'm prepared to o close. how much time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york has 30 seconds. mr. nadler: i yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. nadler: mr. speaker, this bill is a harsh anti-immigrant package that fails to provide a pathway to citizenship for dreamers while slashing legal immigration, crippling our agriculture industry, undocumented immigrants, undermining public safety, and removing critical protection force families and children. all in one undocumented -- prot families and children. all in one monstrous bill. there is no justification for anyone voting for this bill. i urge my colleagues to oppose

the legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. the gentleman from virginia has four minutes. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself the balance of my time. first of all, this bill has been mischaracterized and was just, again. this bill makes provisions for when the immigration service prosecutors somebody at the border. it doesn't tell them when to do that. so it is entirely incorrect to make that assertion. i see the conflicting news reports about what the intention of the administration is today on that issue. but that does not change the fact that that has nothing to do with the good measures in this bill that correct the problems that we're speaking about. the overwhelming majority of the american people want children to be with their parents and i have just seen a poll a few a minutes a ago that hows the overwhelming majority

of them want those children detained with their parents not to have the parents and children released into the interior of them want of the country whe they never return for their hearing. that kind of open border policy supported by the advocates on the other side of the aisle is not good for america. and it is not good for sound immigration policy. we're a nation of immigrants. there is not a person in this room who can't go back a few generations or several generations and find someone in their family who immigrated to the united states. we're also a nation of laws. and respect for the rule of law and following our legal immigration system is the foundation of our society. to me when you say that it's not good enough to do better for the daca resipants than barack obama did, where do you get -- recipients than barack obama did, where do you get that idea from? when you say we're not a

generous country with regard to immigration, and this is an anti-immigration bill when it ustains far more legal immigration than any other country on earth, they are completely wrong. but at the same time that we do that, and we promote that in this bill, good legal immigration policy and something fair for the daca recipients, we must also have secure borders in our country. and we must give any administration, not just this one, the tools it needs to close the loopholes, to secure the immigration than any other country on earth, border, to en programs like the visa lottery program that gives 55,000 green cards to people just based on pure luck. there are better things to do with those green cards to move to a merit-based immigration system. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. reject the negative ideas of the opposition and move forward with a policy that both does

something important for the daca recipients, but also secures america's national security interests and the interests of our the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from texas will control 10 minutes. the gentleman from mississippi will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccaul: mr. speaker, i rise today because we finally have the opportunity to secure our borders once and for all. before coming to congress i was a counterterrorism prosecutor in the justice department. i saw the threats along our border firsthand. after getting elected to the house, the very first bill i introduced put an end to this catch and release system.

here we're in this chamber, 14 years later, and i'm still fighting for it. an nothing should not be option. as i have said before, it is time for congress to act. an option. as we have a historic opportunity to fix this you problem once and for all for securing this act. our legislation works on the president's four pillars. it secures the border by building a wall. ends chain migration. and the diversity lottery. and provides a rational daca solution. it also deploys new throwing and -- new technology and adds boots on the ground. we must move towards a more merit-based system and not a random system. this legislation also provides, mr. speaker, a legal solution that will keep families together when they cross the border illegally.

our bill brings a generational change that prevents us from revisitting these problems down the road. but this isn't just about closing loopholes and fixing broken laws. border security is a national security issue. violent gangs like ms-13, human traffickers, and smugglers sneaking into our country, infect our neighborhoods and too many lives are at risk. and opioids coming across the border. unfortunately the threats do not stop there. we know that international terrorists are trying to exploit our border. this was made clear from the materials found in bin laden's compound and from propaganda outlets like inspire magazine. the 9/11 commission report even stated that predecessors to al qaeda had been exploiting weaknesses in our burdener security since the 1990's. in april, secretary neilsen

testified that isis has encouraged its followers to cross our southwest border given the loopholes that they are also aware of. we must solve this problem. and we must solve it today. so, mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this bill and give the american people the security that they have long demanded and deserve. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 4760, a bill that doubles down on the president's cruel zero tolerance policy. this harsh anti-immigrant, anti-american bill is the realization of the president's and border tion security rhetoric and policies. remember when the republican

party used to say it was the party of family and border values? h.r. 4760 is focused on families but not in a good way. it is focused on separating families, incarcerating families, and eliminating pathways for family-based immigration. remember when the republican party used it say values? it wa party of law and order? well, it does take action with respect to local law enforcement. but not in a good way. it would withhold homeland security and other law enforcement grants from so-called sanctuary cities that, for the purpose of public safety, seek to foster trust from immigrant communities. law enforcement officials across the country oppose this provision because it would make their communities less safe. for example, latinos in three major cities have been reporting fewer crimes since president trump took office,

particularly as it results to domestic violence and sexual assault. finally, remember when the republican party used to say it was the party of fiscal discipline? well, no more. f enacted, h.r. 4760 would require billions of taxpayerle toars to be wasted on the president's border wall, which seem to recall hearing that it would be paid for by the mexican government. now they want the taxpayers of america to pay for it. pay-go o waives scorecard. now you pull a hat trick. you spend the money, but you don't score it. so ultimately it won't show up in our budget numbers. shame on you.

with that, i urge a no vote on h.r. 4760 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. mr. mccaul: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from arizona, ms. mcsally. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. mcsally: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. chairman, thank you for your years of hard work on this issue. i rise in support of h.r. 476, 0 the securing america's future act. as one of only nine members of congress who represents a community along our border, i have recognized firsthand the security threats we face from an unsecured border and the kiss dis-- and the dysfunction ff -- dysfunction of the immigration system. i have been working passionately to protect arizonans from the porous border this bill which we have been tirelessly working on since september of last year along with chairman mccaul,

chairman goodlatte, congressman labrador, represents an important step to keep our country safe by securing the border, including building a wall. closing many legal loopholes. ending chain migration. ending the visa lottery. cracking down on sanctuary cities and ms-13 gangs. and providing a legislative solution to the daca program that's reasonable and fair and doesn't incentivize more illegal activity in the future. this is the first legislation on these topics in the house that president trump has supported. and we worked very closely with the administration in the process to propose a thoughtful solution to fix these very real and complex security and economic challenges. like many pieces of legislation, this bill is not perfect. there are many improvements such as the guaranteed funding mechanism for border security including the wall and other technical corrections we worked on over the last six months that i sure would have liked to have seen in this version of the bill

on the floor. nonetheless, i strongly support passage of this legislation as the first significant proposal to solve these very serious issues that continue to impact communities in arizona and the rest of the country. i remain ready to lead and help deliver legislation to the president's desk that he can sign into law. i urge our colleagues on this other side of the aisle who say they care about border security play ca recipients to not politic, vote yes on this bill. i wreeled back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from mississippi. mr. thompson: i yield one and a half minutes to the retired chief of police of orlando, florida, the gentlelady from orlando, florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one and a half minutes. >> mr. speaker, during my 27 years in law enforcement, i fought many threats to our families, but today i have to

say that i am ashamed that our leaders now say that those families are the threat. mrs. demings: families seeking asylum are not a threat. toddlers and children at the border are not a threat. dreamers who are brought here as young children, both of us know, are not a threat. mr. speaker, i ask why is it so easy to reject those who we believe are different from us. we will not allow this administration to make america a country that only accepts the rich and well connected. when we know better, we are supposed to do better. so i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you're right, let's stop playing politics. let's do better and reject this dangerous piece of legislation.

with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from louisiana, a member of the homeland security committee, mr. higgins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize for one minute. mr. higgins: i rise in support of h.r. 5760. i'm a co-sponsor of this legislation. i remind my colleagues, a sovereign nation can't stand without sovereign borders. i remind my colleagues that we are representatives of the 50 sovereign states of the united states of america. we have not been elected by citizens of mexico or anything rag what orel salvador. we represent american interests. this is an america first bill. it secures america's southern borders. i encourage my colleagues to embrace their oath and recognize their service to these citizens that depend upon sound, decisive measures from this body.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. we all recognize the sovereignty of our country but we also recognize its diversity and we all are immigrants so let's get over it. mr. speaker, i yield one and a half minutes to the gentlelady rom new york, ms. rikse. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one nane minutes. >> it is a shame we are sitting on two harmful bills, when we know the bill introduced by representatives aguilar and hurd has the votes to pass on the house floor. iss rice: this bill would give daca recipients the status and security they deserve. it would secure our borders without wasting taxpayer money

on a wall that wouldn't make us safer. the bills being considered today are not what most americans want. they deny dreamers a path to citizenship. they deny our ability to protect those fleeing poverty and violence. and they do nothing to reyibet families already torn apart by the trump administration. i urge you to do the responsible thing, to finally govern and allow the bipartisan u.s.a. act to come to the floor. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: i yield one minute to the gentleman from kansas, mr. estes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. estes: i rise in support of h.r. 4760, securing america's futures act. mr. speaker, you are our immigration system is broken. for decades, administrations have offered temporary fixes or chosen to not enforce certain provisions of the law. however, the election of president trump shows a clear desire by the american people to fix our broken immigration system and secure or border. the securing america's future

act addresses these issues and provides needed solutions. the bill secures our border by authorizing a wull. providing new border technology and put manager boots on the ground. the bill refocuses legal immigration on skills that are needed by ending the visa lottery program and chain migration. it also prevents future illegal immigration by mandating e-verify for employers. important for my state of kansas, bill includes h-2-c agriculture visas to allow people to come to work and provide skill ours farmers need. finally this bill gives stability to children brought here illegal by providing a renewable legal status as long as recipients pay taxes and obey the law without providing a special path to citizen because no one should get to jump line. i yield back my time. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one and a half minutes to the gentlelady from houston,

texas, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one and a half minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the distinguished gentleman. i would offer to say those gaut ma lan americans, el salvador ran americans and those mericans from the country of mexico and others who serve in the united states military certainly reflect the diversity of this nation. i would offer to say that sadly this is the image that is america today. it is not the statue of liberty. i stand to oppose this bill because i know as a member of the homeland security committee we've had a plan that was bipartisan and that would provide for border security that included tech knowledge and barriers. now we have succumbed to a process of which every good thinking person has to oppose including the business community. law enforcement oppose this is program in particular, this legislation, in particular because it makes communities

less safe. just this week the texas sheriff deputy was arrested for sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl and threatening to deport the undocumented mother if she reported the crime. good law enforcement officers understand they need to have people report the crime. we know it was an immigrant that gave us the polio as well as the researcher and the person who helped us get the polio vaccine. finally young people who now are coming to this country, snatched away from their parents, unaccompanied youngsters as well will no longer have the protection of special immigrant juvenile status. it strips special protections from abused or abandoned children. this bill is a bad bill. it is not an immigration bill. it's a bad bill and it really is not for the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired this egentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from arizona,

ms. lester. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. lester: this is vital legislation for the state of arizona. my constituents back home know all too well how desperately we need our border secured. i signed on as a co-sponsor of this bill because it will fund a wall and other protective infrastructure, close the gaping loopholes in our immigration laws, and finally secure our southern border, ending this problem once and for all. ms. lesko: it is disappointing that with all the rhetoric coming from my colleagues across the aisle, they still refuse to come to the negotiating table and work toward a legislative solution. our broken immigration system cannot continue to be ignored. i want to thank chairman mccaul

and goodlatte for their work on this much-needed legislation and i urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. thompson: thank you, i have no further speakers and am prepared to close at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: i have no further speakers at this time and am prepared to close if the gentleman from mississippi is reprepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserve, egentleman from mississippi is reneek is -- is recognized. mr. thompson: as you heard, h.r. 4760 is fatally flawed. we are here only today debating it because the republican leadership was essentially extorted by extremists within its ranks. instead, we should be here debating legislation to give dreamers a path to citizenship. we should be here debating legislation to give safe haven to refugees from haiti, el

salvador, sudan and nicaragua. we should be here debating a measure to end zero tolerance and family separation. even before the trump administration created this family separation crisis, america's image was suffering the effects of the trump slump due to the president's inflammatory and cruel immigration and border security policies and rhetoric. in fact, last june, the pew research center released an international survey that concluded that sentiment regarding the u.s. had take andramatic turn for the worse. what the president and supporters of h.r. 4760 do not understand is that what makes america great is its people. both native born and immigrants. let's send a message to the president that we know what

makes america great. let's defeat h.r. 4760. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. mccaul: thank you, mr. speaker. let me say, this is a historic opportunity to get something done that we probably haven't gotten done in 25 years. but let me first say that i'm a father of five children. i've been down to the detention centers and seen these kids down there, these babies. it's one of the most, from a human standpoint, one of the horrible experiences i've had in my lifetime. let me say this, mr. speaker. this bill protects our children. it protect ours children because it provides a deterrent for them not to come here in the first place. it also keeps families together. and doesn't separate them as

current law dictates. current law dictates this if we don't change the lay. let me also add, i talked to the secretary today, 10,000 of these 12,000 children who are in the detention center came without their parents. that means 10,000 came without their parents. and who are their guardians? the drug traffickers, the smugglers, the coyotes. as they made the dangerous journey from central america all the way up through mexico and into the united states. i have seen the horrors of that. in this bill -- this bill will provide the deterrence to stop that from happening because as we know, they are abused on the way up. that journey, they are abused physically and sexually and demoralized and recruited. that has to stop. and mr. speaker, this bill will stop that. with that, i urge my sleegs -- colleagues to support i

among the differences in this second bill are that it does not include the reductions in legal immigration. here's some of the house debate beginning with congressman dan newhouse of washington state. the house is expected to vote on this measure next week. the gentleman from washington is recognized for one hour. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from colorado, mr. polis, pending which i yield myself as much time as i may consume. mr. newhouse: mr. speaker, i ask an