03.10.21

Durbin to Republicans: Stop Lamenting & Start Working with Democrats to Fix our Broken Immigration System

WASHINGTON – As the Biden Administration seeks to address the backlog of migrant children seeking refuge at the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today called on his Republican colleagues to work with Democrats to fix our broken immigration system.  Durbin called out his colleagues on the other side of the aisle for lamenting the situation on the Senate floor, but refusing to roll up their sleeves and work with Democrats to fix the system in a sensible, fair, and just way. 

In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin expressed his commitment to constructively engaging with Senate colleagues and illustrated the challenges in resuming humane and effective border practices after four years of cruel and ineffective policies under the Trump Administration, including the zero-tolerance family separation policy that rendered thousands of migrant children unaccompanied when they were separated from their parents.  

“We don’t have enough [immigration] judges.  We don’t have a procedure that is sensible and humane.  We need all of that and it’s not going to happen the day after tomorrow.  Part of it depends on us.  It is one thing to come to the floor and lament the situation with immigration in our country.  It’s another to roll up our sleeves and say, let’s do it.  Let’s solve it on a bipartisan basis… I stand ready to do that in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I think colleagues even on the Republican side agree with me.  As tough as it may be, we need to tackle these issues and not ignore them as they have been ignored during the last four years,” Durbin said.  “That’s going to call for some cooperation, some compromise on both sides.  But we owe it to our country to do the right thing to make our immigration system sensible, logical, and fair.”

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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