Federal Government Action on Immigration Policy

Statement

"The recent events that led to our current border crisis did not happen overnight. The Zero Tolerance policy initiated by the Trump Administration used the lives of innocent children as an intentional attempt to put pressure on Congress to pass an unreasonable immigration bill. As a country, we should be ashamed of any leader who has a callous disregard for society's most vulnerable. There is a difference between being tough and being inhumane and our elected officials know better.

The fate of immigrants trying to get into the United States, as well as DREAMers who have been here, hang in the balance while those in Congress have refused to set aside partisan differences to fix our broken immigration system. Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order to reverse his administration's decision to enforce the separation of all children arriving at the border with a family member. This is far from the correction needed and our work does not end there. Congress must come together to draft legislation that protects our borders without violating human rights.

I am committed to supporting immigration policies that are tough but fair at our southwestern border, while as a country we should not impede on the rights of migrants and their families seeking asylum. Throughout history, our country has mobilized humanitarian aid in many countries across the world, and there is no reason we cannot establish a border that acts both as a patrol and a center for humanitarian relief. There are practical solutions that do not include an expensive, ecologically damaging wall, and if our elected officials, like my opponent here in South Mississippi, refuse to quit playing the partisan blame game and putting party over people then we will continue to see more crisis like this in the future."

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