Pelosi Remarks at Congressional Progressive Caucus Hearing on Unaccompanied Minors at the Southern Border

Contact: Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks today at a hearing on unaccompanied minors crossing the United States' southern border hosted by Congressional Progressive Caucus co-Chairs Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ). Below are the Leader's remarks:

"Thank you very much, my colleague, Congressman Ellison – co-chair of the Progressive Caucus – to you, and to Raúl Grijalva. I thank you for bringing us together today, to pay our respects to these young people – for their courage; for sharing their experiences with us. To them I say: Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for honoring us with your presence. And I want you to know how important you are to us. This is quite a distinguished array of Members of Congress who are here – representing our Progressive Caucus; but also the Hispanic Caucus; the Black Caucus; the Asian American-Pacific Islander Caucus; some of the leaders in the Congress on the subject of immigration – and all supporters of comprehensive immigration reform.

"The argument that some make – that because of what's happening on the border, we shouldn't pass comprehensive immigration reform – is upside down. Because of what's happening on the border, we should even more quickly pass comprehensive immigration reform.

"Your campaign, I love: ‘Have a Heart.' ‘Have a Heart.' Yes, let's follow your message. Let's follow the lead of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, who talked about the baby Jesus escaping violence as an infant, who talked about sending children back into the circumstances that you described as sending children back into a burning building.

"So it's not just about having a heart. It's about having a soul. And the soul of our country is about respecting the dignity and worth of every person. The soul of our country is about giving every person access to rights who is in our country. And when I arrived, I was just telling Congressman Grijalva and Congressman Ellison about a mutual friend I saw yesterday who said: ‘We cannot have deportation without representation.' So I also thank the groups who are here, who advocate for proper representation.

"Unfortunately, the bill that is coming to us – that we may be acting upon in a day or two, the supplemental – does not, in my view, have adequate resources for representation, especially of the children who need it even more, but of anyone on our soil: A. And B., it does not have sufficient judges to deal with the immigration cases before it.

"So again knowing that, putting the spotlight on this challenge through your firsthand experience is very valuable and important to us. Raúl described a situation that was terrible. I saw some of that myself in Brownsville. Many of our colleagues have visited there. I know Congresswoman Lofgren – our leader on immigration in the Judiciary Committee – complained, along with others, about what we saw. And I think that already we have seen some improvement in the situation.

"But we need to do so very much more, so we do appeal to our country and to our colleagues to ‘Have a Heart' when it comes to people coming into our country – some seeking amnesty and asylum to escape violence in Central America or wherever they come from. But again, we do not yet have on the floor the proper opportunity to address those concerns. Your testimony today takes us closer to a place where we can ‘Have a Heart' and recognize the soul of our country – and that is about respecting the dignity and worth and the rights of every single person.

"So thank you. I thank you Dulce [Medina]. Thank you, Mayeli [Hernandez]. Thank you Saul [Martinez], for your courage, and for being here with us today. And thank you to those organizations whose advocacy is so important for helping us have a heart and honor our soul. I thank you my Chairman and I yield back."

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