Espaillat, Barragán, Menendez Issue Joint Statement In Response to Proposed Threats to Supplemental Funding for Asylum Seekers

WASHINGTON, DC -- Representatives Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) and Rob Menendez (NJ-08), co-chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Border and Immigration Task Force, and CHC Chair Nanette Barragán (CA-44) issued the following statement in response to the proposed threats to the asylum system in the forthcoming supplemental aid package:   

“As Co-Chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Border and Immigration Task Force, we are strongly opposed to any potential measures in a rushed border supplemental that would permanently restrict asylum access for immigrants,” said the Members. “We are deeply troubled by recent reports of the Senate’s inclusion of such measures in its forthcoming supplemental appropriations bill—especially during a time of escalating violence and poverty in our hemisphere. Any changes to our country’s decades-old asylum laws which seek to deny life-saving asylum access and legal protections for immigrants and their families are a non-starter and categorically unacceptable. We urge the Senate to adhere to the views of Members who represent the immigrants that would be most significantly and negatively impacted by any restrictive and burdensome changes to our asylum system. We must keep these deeply harmful provisions out of any forthcoming supplemental appropriations package.”

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Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the north-west Bronx. First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his fourth term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities and serves as Ranking Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee of the committee during the 118th Congress. He is also a member of the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves in a leadership role as the Deputy Chair as well as Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). Rep. Espaillat is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) and serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.

Media inquiries: Candace Person at Candace.Person@mail.house.gov