Rep. Lofgren: This humanitarian crisis poses an enormous challenge, let’s not play partisan games

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House GOP appears intent on turning a humanitarian border crisis that deserves a serious discussion into yet another partisan attack on the Obama Administration, said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) today.

Lofgren, the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, delivered the following statement today during the House Judiciary Committee hearing titled "An Administration Made Disaster: The South Texas Border Surge of Unaccompanied Alien Minors."

"Today's hearing is on a serious topic and it deserves a serious discussion. Unfortunately, as Mr. Conyers has said, the title—"An Administration Made Disaster"—looks like some have made up their minds and may indeed intend to turn this into yet another partisan attack on the Administration. The facts don't support that attack and I hope we will be able to give this topic the consideration it deserves.

"There is indeed a spike in the number of unaccompanied minor children apprehended along the southwest border. Although the increase actually began in 2011, the rate of apprehensions has increased sharply and we may apprehend as many as 90,000 kids during the current fiscal year, and they have overwhelmed our resources to cope with them.

"Now in the past, the majority of kids coming alone came from Mexico, and they tended to be older children – 16, 17-year-old boys. That is no longer the case. The current spike is driven almost entirely by children from three countries. And we have a chart here, you can see it's starkly laid out- the source of these children coming to the United States are El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. And the current population has changed as well, we don't see that on the chart, it contains lots more girls and many more younger children than have come in the past.

"It has been pointed out, and I think all of us will agree, the journey to the United States is extremely dangerous. And along the way, these children could be raped, they could be killed, maimed, become victims of trafficking or extorted. Many of them know the dangers that they will face, so we need to understand what it is – knowing what they face – is causing them to come anyways. What is so horrible that is going on in those countries that you would face being trafficked or raped in order to get here?

"Now, the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has taken a look at what is going on these three countries and they report a spike in violence by transnational criminal organizations. In fact, news reports indicate that officials in El Salvador recently discovered a mass grave containing the remains of people, including children who were killed and dismembered elsewhere. In Honduras, Covenant House reports that murders of children are on the rise and according to the State Department's 2013 country report on Guatemala, many hundreds of women and girls are killed each year. The report notes that "[i]n most killings, sexual assault, torture, and mutilation were evident," but only 1 or 2% of these murders result in conviction.

"Now this is a regional catastrophe, and the United States is not the only country experiencing an increase in the number of young people fleeing from these countries and seeking protection. As Mr. Conyers again mentioned, there's been a 712% increase in asylum applications in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Belize.

"It's significant that there is no measurable increase of any sort from children coming from these other countries. Look at Nicaragua – there's no spike there and Nicaragua actually is a country that is poorer than Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. There is no spike from these other countries. So if the majority is correct, if is somehow a change of policy (which there has not been) that has encouraged people to come to the United States – why only from three countries? Why not from the poor country of Nicaragua?

"I think also, that the UNHCR, which is probably the most experienced in dealing with refugee matters, interviewed 404 of these unaccompanied children, and they found that 58% spoke of serious harm that raised, for the UN, international protection concerns. I remember last year we had a hearing on so-called "asylum abuse" and Chairman Goodlatte asked whether here really had been a situation where things had gotten more dangerous in recent years. And I think it's obvious when it comes to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, the answer to that question appears to be "yes."

"Unfortunately, some have tried to politicize the situation. Some have argued that the Administration is responsible for this humanitarian crisis and, indeed, the title of this hearing is conclusory in that respect. Put aside the fact that the Obama Administration has set records in terms of deportations, I think we need to know that nothing has changed in terms of the law.

"Looking back at the state of the law, the 1997 court-ordered settlement Flores v. Reno first established that children should be released into the least restrictive environment because at the time little children were being held in prisons with adults. And we found that – and the courts found that – unconstitutional and wrong. Subsequent to that our former colleague, Dick Armey of Texas, introduced the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which codified the court settlement and said that unaccompanied children must be released into the least restrictive environment. And of course the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act, that we all championed here, cosponsored by Mr. Berman, our former colleague, and Jeff Fortenberry, Chris Smith, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen – also signed into law by President George Bush – further codified that ruling that we are not going to put little children into shackles.

"Now, it is true that the government is not now using expedited removal to deport these children without an immigration hearing. Why is that? Because the law prohibits it. They are following what the law says that they must do, and this was the law signed into law when George Bush was President in a Republican Congress.

"You know, a regional humanitarian crisis requires a regional solution. I am hopeful that some of the steps announced last week to encourage - even demand - the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to take action to prevent the violence against these children will have an effect. I'm also going to be looking closely at how we detain families. The Chairman is correct, we also have a surge of families with young children and we are, as we know, opening up additional facilities for those families to be housed.

"As the Chairman, I'm sure, will recall, in the Refugee Act of 1980, as well as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996, authored by Congressman Smith of Texas, it is required that each case be reviewed closely and on a case-by-case basis and that no person or child be returned to face persecution or torture abroad.

"This humanitarian crisis poses an enormous challenge. It will not help us to face this challenge by suggesting that when we follow the law, we are somehow making up a new policy. In fact, we are following the policies that are guiding us in treating children since 1997, and I hope that we will not play partisan games with this very dangerous situation."

# # #