Jayapal Statement on Passage of Emergency Border Aid Bill

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) issued the following statement regarding the passage of H.R. 3401, the Emergency Supplemental Bill to Provide Humanitarian Assistance at the Border:  

“This bill was the culmination of several days of candid conversations, and I am grateful for the hard work that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats put into improving the emergency border funding bill to ensure we alleviate inhumane conditions for families and children at the border. 

“I’ve worked on immigration issues for over two decades and this administration’s unconscionable and inhumane treatment of immigrants is the worst I’ve ever seen.

“I am deeply concerned by detention conditions and the Department of Homeland Security’s treatment of people, in particular families and children, seeking safety. That is why I fought so hard to include strict conditions requiring private detention facilities to meet certain standards of care within six months or risk losing their contract and ensure that crucial protections for children could not be waived. This bill is not perfect, but I am proud that members of the Progressive Caucus stood by our principles to make it better. 

“Our work is not done. This Congress must establish a truly humanitarian response to help children and families who are fleeing for their lives.  We must stop this crisis at its root, and that will not happen without the renewal of aid to Central America. Further, it is critical that we make fundamental changes to the way we treat people who come to the United States seeking safety. “We cannot continue Trump’s zero-humanity policies of separating children from their families and forcing people to languish in squalid, overcrowded conditions without access to basic human needs.” 

Issues: Immigration