In the News

Let’s not mince words: in the fall of 2016, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his agents attacked our country. Their interference in our election was an attack on our democracy and on our national security. The American people deserve not only answers about what happened and who was involved, but also to know that their government is doing everything in its power to hold the perpetrators responsible and ensure it never happens again. As Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we are united in demanding action. The Committee recently held a hearing focused on Russia’s disinformation efforts. This is an important topic worthy of our attention, but it pales in comparison to Russia’s criminal interference with American democracy.

WASHINGTON
Legisladores demócratas expresaron el jueves preocupación por el impacto que los recortes presupuestarios propuestos por el presidente Donald Trump podrían representar para América Latina y los propios Estados Unidos. Eliot Engel, principal demócrata en la comisión de asuntos exteriores de la cámara baja, advirtió que disminuir la cooperación internacional en 28% (o 10.000 millones de dólares) deterioraría las relaciones con aliados en la región, debilitando la influencia de Washington. Engel agregó que además pondría en riesgo programas consolidados de asistencia para combatir el crimen organizado en México, Colombia o América Central.

Congressman Adriano Espaillat used a meeting with Gen. John Kelly, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security—which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement—to describe the atmosphere of fear that has enveloped his district and immigrant communities nationwide. Espaillat joined colleagues in the Democratic Conference and the Congressional Hispanic Conference for a sitdown with Kelly, who has presided over the implementation of President Donald Trump’s aggressive enforcement agenda—under which any foreign national accused of any crime is vulnerable to arrest and expulsion. The freshman lawmaker‘s turf covers communities in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx home to a large number recent arrivals from Latin American nations, many like himself natives of the Dominican Republic.

NUEVA YORK. El congresista dominicano en la Cámara de Representantes Adriano Espaillat, sometió una resolución en defensa de la libertad de prensa y contra las noticias falsas y alarmistas, especialmente las dadas a conocer recientemente por el presidente Donald Trump, quien achacó públicamente a su antecesor Barack Obama, haberlo espiado y luego se retractó cuando el propio congreso le pidió las pruebas. “Las declaraciones de noticias falsas del presidente Trump son escandalosas, y por eso presenté una resolución en oposición a las noticias falsas y hechos alternativos que hemos presenciado durante la constante falta de transparencia del presidente durante sus primeros 50 días en el cargo”, dijo el congresista Espaillat.

The freshman congressman, the first formerly undocumented immigrant elected, thinks President Trump doesn’t understand their experience. Adriano Espaillat remembers hearing gunfire nearby when he was 10 years old, back in the Dominican Republic. But that, he says, wasn't as scary as the men in trench coats and glasses his grandmother warned him to look out for during the months he spent living in New York on an expired visa. “I guess that’s the description of a spy or a detective,” Espailllat told me, as we met at Bullfeathers to speak for POLITICO’s “Off Message” podcast. “Or an immigration officer.”

DEERFIELD, IL — Congressmen Brad Schneider (D, IL-10) and Adriano Espaillat (D, NY-13) announced the introduction of legislation to close the “ghost guns loophole" which allows purchasers to avoid federal background checks by buying unassembled firearms online, they said.

NUEVA YORK. El congresista dominicano en la Cámara de Representantes del congreso de Estados Unidos, Adriano Espaillat Cabral, anunció anoche que someterá dos proyectos de leyes federales, para supervisar los operativos de la Policía de Inmigración y Protección de Fronteras (ICE), en sus operativos contra los inmigrantes.

(CNN)Decades before being elected to Congress, Rep. Adriano Espaillat arrived in America as a young boy before becoming an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic. "I came here at the age of 9 with my parents and my brother and sister. We were here on a visa and overstayed," he told CNN's Alisyn Camerota Wednesday on "New Day." "I was a young boy but I remember my grandparents talking to us about being careful where we went, not approaching any strangers."