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Floor Speech

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Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, I rise today alarmed at Republicans' demands for drastic anti-immigrant policy changes in exchange for continued support for Ukraine.

For nearly 2 years, our allies in Ukraine have fought off Putin's unjust invasion with the support of the United States--support President Zelenskyy himself has said is essential to his country's success. But now, as Ukrainians fight to defend their country and democracy itself, Republicans are holding additional aid hostage in exchange for unrelated immigration policy changes.

In exchange for one-time funding for Ukraine, Republicans are demanding permanent policy changes that would further weaken our broken immigration system. The proposal put forward by several of my Republican colleagues earlier this month would further complicate our asylum system and sow further chaos--chaos--at the southern border. This plan would require asylum seekers to apply for asylum in every country through which they transit--a clear violation of international law that would effectively deny asylum to almost anyone outside of Mexico or Canada who cannot fly directly to the United States.

Similarly, raising the standard for initial asylum screenings, known as credible fear interviews, would require asylum seekers to present even more detailed asylum claims within just days of a traumatic journey to the United States, typically while being detained in DHS custody and without the assistance of counsel. By making it even harder for the most vulnerable to seek asylum, these changes would result in political dissenters and persecuted minorities being sent back to danger and, in some instances, to their deaths.

The Republicans' plan would also make the situation at the southern border more chaotic by eliminating the President's parole authority, which the Biden administration has used to create safe, orderly pathways for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to enter the United States. Eliminating this parole authority would force vulnerable people from these countries to make a dangerous journey to our border to seek protection rather than applying for protection in advance.

As the only immigrant currently serving in the Senate, I know that the challenges confronting immigrants are not hypothetical. This isn't about statistics; it is about people--people desperate for opportunity and the hope of building a better life in our country. A plan that villainizes and degrades those seeking to enter our country is bad enough; but this plan does little to address the actual issues facing immigrants, failing to acknowledge the plight of DACA recipients, temporary protected status holders, and undocumented individuals living in the shadows while contributing to our communities and our economy.

Just this month, the Judiciary Committee, on which I sit, held a hearing on how to improve immigration courts. Immigration experts shared meaningful, thoughtful ways to improve this key component of our immigration system. Disappointingly but not surprisingly, sad to say, none of the solutions discussed at that hearing are included in the Republicans' proposal.

Beyond the problematic content of their proposal is the precedent that Republicans are attempting to set by tying one-time funding for Ukraine to permanent anti-immigrant policy changes. Pitting vulnerable groups against each other--Ukrainians fighting an unjust invasion and asylum seekers fleeing persecution--is a recipe for bad policymaking. Exchanging permanent policy changes for temporary funding all but guarantees additional Republican demands on immigration next year.

There was a serious effort to enact bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate in 2013. I was here then. I had just gotten elected to the Senate. The year 2013 was the last time this body attempted to address this issue of a broken immigration system in a comprehensive way. To this day, I consider that bill that we worked on in a bipartisan way in 2013 as one of the most important issues and bills I have ever worked on in the Senate.

Comprehensive immigration reform was needed then, and it is desperately needed even more now. I stand ready to work in good faith with anyone looking to meaningfully improve our Nation's badly outdated and broken immigration system. However, that is not what the current Republican proposal does.

The American people are tired of rhetoric. They are looking to us to act. I believe this body has the ability to come together and enact comprehensive immigration reform, and I hope we--Democrats and Republicans--both acknowledge that the immigration system is broken-- can find the will to do so. We did in 2013, and we can do it again.

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