Hi John,
I am honored to represent the people of PA-05 and Americans everywhere as a member of Congress. In addition to my work as Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee, I also serve as a member of the Subcommittee on Immigration. In this role, I have participated in hearings on immigration reform and the humanitarian crisis on our southern border.
As your representative, I have voted on several bills to provide a citizenship path for Dreamers, to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for refugees, to protect immigrant victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, and to provide additional funding for border security and humanitarian relief.
Immigration is one of the many polarizing issues our nation faces, and sometimes, the truth is hard to find. Those who wish to deny the terrible conditions faced by asylum-seekers glibly ask “How do you know? Were you there?”
My answer is “Yes.”
Not only have I visited detention facilities here in Pennsylvania and on the US-Mexico border but I also recently went with a bi-partisan group to the Northern Triangle: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. On the way home, we visited a detention facility in McAllen, Texas.
This trip gave me a firsthand view of the conditions refugees face. Parents are trying to save their children from violence, corruption, and chronic malnutrition made worse by recent cuts to foreign aid. These cuts have jeopardized programs meant to combat drug trafficking, reduce migration, and fight corruption. Families make the decision to flee out of desperation.
Returning to Texas, I saw children being held in chain link pens, mothers begging to know where their children had been taken, and, again, the need for rational and humane solutions to border control -- more staff, updated technology and facilities, and better training and accountability for those tasked with guarding our nation’s borders.
The fight is not yet over, and the lessons I learned firsthand in the Northern Triangle and on our southern border will help me continue the fight for just and humane solutions to immigration and border issues.
-Mary Gay
