House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) today released the following statement on President Trump’s announcement of support for the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act:
“Today’s announcement underscores yet again that we have a White House more concerned with theatrics than substance. President Trump has equated the re-introduction of a bill with a change in United States policy, failing to acknowledge that our Constitutional government requires a bill to be passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President.
“The Trump, Cotton, Perdue bill is rooted in the same anti-immigrant, xenophobic, and isolationist rhetoric that was a cornerstone of the Trump campaign. It would drastically--and cynically--slash legal immigration channels into the United States, making it even harder for people to come in the right way. And rather than help American workers acquire better jobs and better wages, the bill would drastically reduce economic growth and hurt the wages and working conditions of all Americans. This bill would have us turn our back on America's history as a nation of immigrants and the very thing that makes us both a great power and economically resilient.”
###
