Speech #1130123888

Next. my amendment would protect the victims of domestic violence. abuse. and severe human trafficking. We know a willingness to come forward and cooperate with law enforcement can break the cycle of violence and make justice possible for the real criminals. USCIS developed a program to give victims of incredible violence temporary U visas for abuse and T visas for trafficking. In 2010 alone. nearly 12.000 of these visas were given out so victims can come out of the shadows. What is it about visas for abuse victims that so enrage some in this Chamber? American women deserve better than a policy that threatens to deport the victim while their abuser simply walks free. That is why the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women wrote that this bill "broadly sweeps large numbers of victims into its scope and ignores the best interests of victims and their children." Finally. this motion would preserve our countrys longstanding practice of granting parole and. ultimately. green cards to Cuban nationals. Those who escape the clutches of the nearly 56yearold communist dictatorship yearn for the freedom they are so brutally denied just 90 miles from our shore. To this day. Cuban democracy activists. including Las Damas de Blanco. remain subject to arbitrary arrest. beatings. and imprisonment. Without the protection spelled out in my amendment. fleeing survivors of the Castro regime are denied a chance at freedom and deported. Is that what we want? Growing up in south Florida. I can tell you that the cultural richness of the great State of Florida does not exist without Cuban American immigrants. many of whom escaped with nothing more than their lives. To my friends across the aisle who call this a "process" argument. let me say. if this House had done its job. we wouldnt face a process question in the first place. You want a better process? Pass a bill. Dispense of this measure before us and bring up H.R. 15. a real immigration bill from the gentleman from Florida . It will reform our broken system. secure the border. create hundreds of thousands of jobs. and reduce the deficit by nearly $1 trillion. It has got the votes. We can make it the law by Christmas. The American people asked for immigration reform. and this body voted to half secure the border and deport DREAMers. Now we are looking at ripping apart military families. prosecuting the victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. and sending Cuban refugees back to the brutal hands of the Castros. I urge my colleagues. dont let this be the story of the 113th Congress. Pass this motion to recommit and defeat this meanspirited bill before us.