The following is a reaction from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund, on the Senate Judiciary Hearing on border security this afternoon:
This past March, we joined 130 allied organizations and Senator Durbin in asking the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration to hold oversight hearings on President Trump’s sweeping Executive Orders. These orders, along with subsequent implementation memos, have made radical changes to immigration enforcement, have caused widespread fear in communities across America, and were put into place with zero consultation or care for the consequences.
Instead of heeding this request, Trump’s allies in the Senate, starting with Senator John Cornyn, are holding a hearing that has all the authenticity of a Kabuki show. Undoubtedly, the hearing will lead to a ‘conclusion’ that what’s ‘needed’ – wait for it – is a bill authored by none other than John Cornyn.
We don’t need more enforcement-only laws. We need Congress to put a check on Trump’s Executive Orders, to hold DHS accountable for its ruthless expansion of deportations that sweep up those who are hardworking and contributing members of their communities, and to stand up to his idiotic border wall, the expansion of his deportation force, and his un-American refugee and Muslim bans.
But that would require leadership and courage, qualities that seem to be absent when it comes to Senator Cornyn.
