In a strongly worded statement Congressman Eliot Engel, Ranking Member of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, has denounced the Republican majority in the House of Representatives for trying to keep the Homeland Security Appropriations Act hostage in order to stop the immigration reforms the President has begun by Executive order.
Congressman Eliot Engel (NY-16) issued the following statement regarding the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act:
House Republicans are trying to use the Homeland Security Appropriations Act to roll back the President’s new immigration program. For the Republicans to play partisan games with the Department of Homeland Security when international terrorism is on the rise is outright dangerous.
Last year, House Republicans had every opportunity to pass a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform package. But they did nothing, and the President was driven to act on his own. Now, instead of threatening to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans should be moving to pass comprehensive immigration reform that protects the border, streamlines the immigration process, and finds a fair solution for the millions of undocumented immigrants already here.
Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell should propose actual legislation to address immigration, and they should move a clean DHS appropriations bill. Sadly, they seem more interested in holding the Department of Homeland Security for ransom just so they can stymie the President’s plan to improve our broken immigration system.
I suggest that all who are concerned about the security of our borough, city, state and nation call the offices of Republican members of Congress and demand that they not play politics with our security. The Republican members of Congress from New York are:
Lee Zeldin 202-225-3826
Peter King 202-225-7896
Chris Gibson 202-225-5614
Elise Stefanik 202-225-4611
Richard Hanna 202-225-3665
Tom Reed 202-225-3161
John Katko 202-225-3701
Chris Collins 202-225-5265
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