Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) joined fellow Democrats, the American Business Immigration Coalition Action (ABIC Action) and the South Texas Builders Association to discuss the future of immigration reform and solutions.
Below is a lightly edited transcript of her remarks. You can find video of her remarks here.
Congresswoman Escobar: Buenos dias! What a beautiful day on Capitol Hill. And we have been blessed with incredible advocates, with an amazing freshman class. We've turned the border blue, and we have a mandate from the American people.
As my colleagues have mentioned, today is Veteran's Day. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are hundreds of veterans who have been deported. Not just during this administration, but prior administrations. We need to get them home, and we need to address the broken system that has removed American heroes from American soil. It is incredibly unjust.
As Ashley - one of my personal heroes - has mentioned, I am the co-author of the Dignity Act. My colleague Maria Salazar could not be here with us. She just won her race. And she and I are deeply committed to continuing our effort at bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform.
When we introduced the Dignity Act in 2023, we were subjected to a lot of criticism about the bipartisan effort that we - the journey - that we began together.
I am a progressive Democrat. I have very aspirational dreams and hopes for immigration reform. But I am also a pragmatist. And as we continue to have Donald Trump in the White House and without a super majority in the Senate, we need Republican support. So any comprehensive immigration reform must be bipartisan.
I am deeply committed to ensuring that the Dignity Act is reintroduced in 2027. To my incoming freshman colleagues: this is the only bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill in the House in over a decade. This last Congress, we had 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats. We want to grow that number and get the bill out of the House, get it to the Senate - where I already have a bipartisan Senate duo very interested in the Dignity Act - and get this bill to the president's desk.
To Republicans and Democrats alike who did not like the Dignity Act because it didn't meet their goals: we are going to reshape it in the coming weeks. If you want to be a part of bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform compromise so that we can get a bill to the president's desk in 2027, we welcome you with open arms. We welcome your ideas. We welcome your initiative. We want you at the table. And if we can get this passed this upcoming Congress, we can do even more in 2028 to grow and expand what we can do for immigrants, immigrant families, and our economy and our communities.
I know all of us never want to see another family separated ever again. We never want to see private prisons like those run in my district - Camp East Montana, a $1.24 billion facility, a profit-making enterprise that is essentially feeding its profits off of human misery - we need to bring that to an end. We need to bring sanity back to the immigration system. We can do this. We will do this. Thank you all.
