Press Releases

Congressman Garret Graves (R – South Louisiana) made the following remarks today after meeting with President Trump, Vice President Pence and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen at the White House, and following the president's signing of the executive order, Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation:

"I had a good meeting today with President Trump, the Vice President and Secretary Nielsen where we expressed our concerns regarding current immigration practices and shared our ideas on solutions. We welcome this executive order.

No one wants to see kids separated from their families, and ending that is the right move; but let's be completely clear about what we're dealing with here: the majority of these cases were self-inflicted consequences of choosing to carry out the criminal act by foreigners illegally entering the United States, and virtually every instance was preventable had the perpetrators not broken the law. This "crisis" is preventable, but we are not doing enough to prevent it.

We are a nation of immigrants; we are a nation of law – it is irrational to believe that you can have one without the other. It's time to be clear about what our laws are and how they will be enforced. It's time to put an end to the confusion. It's time to be proactive: proactive in our securing of the border; proactive in our messaging through our embassies, especially in countries that export high numbers of illegal immigrants – making clear the risks associated with coming here illegally, the likelihood of being caught and what the consequences are, and; proactive in educating those seeking asylum on the legal process to do so. It is wrong for the United States to entirely close our borders, and it is wrong to have totally open borders where the world's 7.3 billion foreigners can come here as they wish. The answer is somewhere in between. That means we need to have secure borders and a reformed immigration process.

We will continue working with the White House and with the Congress to ensure our border is secure, our laws are enforced and the legal immigration process is fixed in a way that makes coming here legally a better option than coming here illegally."

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