Newsletter: Addressing Border Crisis & More Updates

Statement

Dear Friends,

This week I questioned customs and border protection and law enforcement officials at a hearing focused on the influx of unaccompanied minors across the southern border. We need to act quickly to address this urgent humanitarian crisis, which is overwhelming border facilities and resources, and I have called on the president to clarify U.S. immigration laws and work with foreign counterparts to help stop this migration. These minors are facing perilous conditions on the way to our country and many of them are raped, beaten or abused by their smugglers during their journey here. I am working with my colleagues on a proposal that would treat all unaccompanied children the same under the law, allowing for these children to return safely to their families in their home countries. The proposal would also increase the number of immigration judges to more quickly dispose of cases and establish measures to ensure individuals show up to court proceedings. The administration needs to step up, clearly communicate and take consistent actions to enforce our immigration laws so that parents or others in these Central American countries do not continue to send children on this dangerous journey.

Also this week, I continued my efforts to expand access to broadband here in New Hampshire. As you may know, I've called for reforms to the federal E-Rate communications program, which is funded through the universal service charge on Americans' phone bills and is intended to help schools and libraries in under-served areas afford modern technology services - like broadband and Wi-Fi.

New Hampshire is getting short-changed by E-Rate, ranking 50th out of 50 states when it comes to return on the dollar. In advance of an FCC vote Friday on the future of the program, I called for substantive reform that would help New Hampshire - including making it easier to apply for funding, distributing aid to schools on a more equitable per-student basis, and giving schools greater flexibility to spend E-Rate funds on technologies that benefit students.

I also brought the concerns of UNH to a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week focusing on the potential impact of athlete compensation and unionization on undergraduate athletic programs and non-revenue generating college sports, such as track, swimming, and soccer. I want to make sure the gains that have been made for women through Title IX athletics over the past four decades continue, and I raised questions about how women's athletics would be affected if college sports moved to an employer-employee type model, as the National Labor Relations Board is currently reviewing. Additionally, I called on the NCAA president to act quickly to remove athletics departments from handling sexual assault allegations on college campuses.

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