Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the Ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement at today’s subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The hearing’s witnesses were Kevin K. McAleenan, CBP Commissioner; Matthew T. Albence, ICE Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations; and ... Read more

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the Ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement at today’s subcommittee hearing on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security budget request for Fiscal Year 2019. The hearing’s witness was Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Good morning, Madam Secretary. Welcome to your first appearance before the subcommittee. While still relatively new, the department has made signif... Read more

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the Ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and the co-chair of the Women's Working Group on Immigration Reform, secured a commitment today from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen that DHS would reply by the end of the week to a letter the congresswoman has co-led seeking information about the increased detention rates of pregnant immigrant women and recent miscarriages in detention cen... Read more

Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), the co-chairs of the Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform, issued the following statement denouncing a newly disclosed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy that ends the presumption of release for detained pregnant women, including pregnant mothers seeking asylum: “Detaining pregnant women is an affront to American decency, and to our history as a nation of immigrants. ICE should not be detaining pregnant... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) issued the following statement responding to the Commerce Department’s announcement that a new citizenship question would be added to the 2020 Census: “The Census’s new citizenship question is another shameful Trump assault on our democracy. It will undoubtedly drive down Census participation, and cost our neighborhoods federal funds and seats in Congress. Trump is worried about losing power, so he's trying to take power away from our communitie... Read more

Today, Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and Norma Torres (CA-35) introduced the Help Separated Families Act of 2018, which would make important policy changes to keep children of detained or deported parents united with their families. The bill’s introduction comes as a growing number of children are separated from their families and placed in the child welfare system following a parent’s detention or removal by immigration authorities. The Help Separated Families Act of 2018 aims to ... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and an original co-author of the Dream Act, issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the Department of Homeland Security: “While I support some elements of the DHS budget request, I have strong objections to this budget’s significant increase in funding for interior immigration enforcement. Democrats will not support the conti... Read more

Today, 75 Democratic congressmembers, led by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Co-Chairs of the Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform; Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen expressing profound concern with the Departm... Read more

Today, Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; Congresswomen Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Co-Chairs of the Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform; and Congressmembers Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Mark Takano (CA-41), and Grace Meng (NY-06) hosted a House Triangle press conference to promote family-based immigration. They were joined by John Yang, President and Executive Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice (A... Read more

Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), the Ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and an original co-author of the Dream Act, issued the following statement today regarding the White House’s immigration framework: “Donald Trump proposes to ransom the futures of Dreamers and is demanding a set of hard-line immigration policies in return. He has not offered a serious immigration proposal. He has only offered an affront to common sense and decency. “If Trump off... Read more