Immigration Reform

Floor Speech

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This is an important moment for immigration reform. My district in Washington State is very representative of why we need reform. We have a northern border and a diverse economy with a rich agricultural industry, including dairy and berry farmers. In the southern part of my district, there are some of the world's most innovative companies, including technology, advanced manufacturing, biotech, and countless startups. These businesses have been making the case that fixing our immigration system must be a top priority for our economy.

Whether it is an ultrasound manufacturer who needs an acoustic engineer or a video game developer looking for a 3-D modeler, companies in my district are in need of specialized high-skilled workers. We have to ensure that foreign graduate students can stay here to start new companies or support ongoing research that will lead to future breakthroughs in many areas.

Also, farmers need immigration reform in order to find a stable, skilled, and reliable workforce to help us grow our food and our economy.

That's why I helped lead the introduction of H.R. 15. This is a bipartisan bill with 190 cosponsors. In light of Veterans Day earlier this week, I can think of no better way to honor our Active Duty military servicemembers who are immigrants--currently, there are more than 65,000 immigrants, or 5 percent of the force--than by taking action on immigration reform.

Unless Congress takes action, there are many DREAMers who were brought here as children and are undocumented who want to serve their country but cannot do so as the military can currently only enlist people who have legal status.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that we talked about earlier that the administration announced last year allows many DREAMers to apply for a reprieve from deportation and a work permit, but it does not confer legal status, which means that recipients of this deferred action remain ineligible to serve.

The American people want our broken immigration system fixed, and they are tired of congressional inaction. The time to act is now, and I join my colleagues in asking us to act as quickly as possible.

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