Pell Grant Flexibility Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in strong opposition to H.R. 3941, ``Schools Not Shelters Act of 2023''.

This bill is an absurd measure to condemn the use of elementary and secondary school facilities that provide shelter for people caught up in emergencies, just like we do for other disasters.

Using the facilities of a public elementary or secondary school to provides shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted into the United States should not be politicized, as this is humanitarian issue and failure of our broken immigration system.

As a Member on the Homeland Security committee, and more specifically the Border Security and Enforcement subcommittee, I interact with those at the border and migrants frequently.

I believe that a comprehensive approach is needed to find a lasting solution to the current immigration crisis.

However, I think it is essential that migrants are brought and allowed into the country through legal immigration.

I am a strong proponent of humanitarian aid efforts in the immigration context, from preventing the breakup of individual families because of a wrongful deportation to ensuring that victims of civil wars and national disasters around the globe receive a temporary protected status under the U.S. immigration laws.

We should not condemn the use of public elementary or secondary schools provide shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted into the United States.

I acknowledge that school are places of learning and development for students, but there are time periods when school campuses are not being used, such as during school breaks.

Because of this, the space could be used for humanitarian aid purposes, such as allowing migrants to stay there while they wait for legal processing and paperwork to conclude.

Other exceptions need to be reviewed, such as whether migrants could stay at schools when school is in-session, but humanitarian aid should not be overlooked in the immigration context.

As a leading country on the global stage, it is our duty and responsibility to assist who we can in a legal manner.

More importantly when it comes to schools in America, we should be addressing critical issues that are truly impacting our educational system--namely, the hostile state takeovers of majority-minority school district--as is what is happening in my district with the Texas Education Agency takeover of the Houston Independent School District.

State takeovers in other districts have led to school closures, layoffs, and no improvements in test scores.

The vast majority of school districts that have been taken over by state agencies (TEA included) have not improved but declined.

With data ranging back to the late 1980s, researchers found that most state takeovers don't translate to academic improvements.

We have to stop the State from intermeddling and overstepping into our educational systems--causing further harm and damage to our communities.

That is why I have called upon President Biden and the Department of Education to investigate and take immediate action to address the recent systematic and dangerous efforts underway by state and local officials in Texas seeking to undermine and undo decades of civil rights protections and advancements in educational institutions and student populations.

And so, I am here today to say that these are the issues that the American people truly care about and want us to be fighting for, for the protection and preservation of their educational rights.

Emergency response agencies have always used school facility sheltering to provide emergency services to affected individuals and communities; the use of these facilities as a temporary shelter for migrants puts no students in danger.

These school facilities have always been used as emergency shelters during disasters such as weather-related events.

No colleges or public K-12 schools should lose federal funding because they provide temporary relief to migrants.

If Republicans are really concerned about measure needed to ensure school safety, they should support all measures that address gun violence prevention and mental health issues.

If my colleagues genuinely want to address students' safety, they should join with us to focus on the real causes of violent deaths in our country--guns.

Gun violence is decimating our families and communities--mass shootings in schools, places of worship, shopping malls, concerts, and urban neighborhoods.

A majority of Americans, including parents, teachers, students, and educational workers support common sense and meaningful actions that address the surging violence in our schools and I colleges.

All that this bill does is to punish schools that Republicans think are helping migrants.

By singling out emergency use for migrants, this bill is only about Republicans' continuous opposition to any effort that provides support for the migrant community.

That is why I had offered the following amendments to be considered by the Rules Committee:

Jackson Lee Amendment 13 would simply prevent the enactment of H.R. 3941 until we actually address and enact comprehensive immigration reform in the United States such that the Federal immigration system operates efficiently and offers a fair, humane, and orderly pathway to citizenship.

Jackson Lee Amendment 15 would also prevent enactment of this bill until, my bill the ``Grant Relief for American Children's Elevation (GRACE) Act of 2023'' is implemented such that the ``exceptional and extremely unusual hardship'' term as defined in Section 240A(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 12229b(b)) is amended, to include hardship resulting from separating a family member who is a United States citizen, a lawful permanent resident or an individual lawfully admitted to the United States and a family member who is subject to deportation or removal from the United States.

A study on Facts and Fictions of Race and Family in U.S. Immigration Policy found that the United States governing framework of family sponsorship is rooted in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act.

The act eliminated the 1924 national origins quotas while maintaining the principle of numerical restriction by specifying annual caps as well as per-country limits on immigration.

Under the act, ``immediate family,'' specifically spouses, minor children, and the parents of U.S. citizens, are admitted without numerical quotas.

After that, there is a system of hierarchical preferences in which the claims of U.S. citizens are placed above those of legal permanent residents.

There is also a ranking of the family relationship that is based on l assessments of familial proximity and of age, especially in the caseof parents and children.

The dominant political narrative of the 1965 act at the time of its passage was one of national values, family unity, and the American commitment to ending racial discrimination.

However, according to the Washington Post, the Trump administration's immigration policies separated more than 5,400 children from their families, sending families to Mexico to await the chance to make asylum claims and seeking the chance to detain children indefinitely.

My amendment, the ``Grant Relief for American Children's Elevation Act'' or ``GRACE Act,'' would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish certain family separation as an exceptional and extremely unusual hardship.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has noted that ``highly stressful experiences, like family separation, can cause irreparable harm, disrupting a child's brain architecture and affecting his or her short- and long-term health.

This type of prolonged exposure to serious stress--known as toxic stress--can carry lifelong consequences for children.''

Just last year, two pediatricians wrote in the Houston Chronicle that ``this kind of stress makes children susceptible to acute and chronic conditions such as extreme anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, hypertension and heart disease.''

As we take into consideration the long term negative psychological effects of family separation as the result of immigration, it becomes abundantly clear that we cannot move forward until this cycle is stopped.

As a Member on the Homeland Security committee, and more specifically the Border Security and Enforcement subcommittee, I interact with those at the border and migrants frequently.

I believe that a comprehensive approach is needed to find a lasting solution to the current immigration crisis.

However, I think it is essential that migrants are brought and allowed into the country through legal immigration.

Under the Jackson Lee Amendment, 15, the Immigration and Nationality Act would have no longer subjected human beings to extreme trauma by separating a family member who is a United States citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an individual lawfully admitted to the United States and a family member who is subject to deportation or removal from the United States.

And the Jackson Lee Amendment 16 strikes one word--``not'' from Sect. 2(a) such that it reads as follows:

In General:--As a condition on receipt of Federal financial assistance under applicable program by a public elementary school, a public secondary school, or an institution of higher education, the facilities of the school or institution may be used to provide shelter or housing for specified aliens.

Thus, my amendment strikes the very language preventing the use of school facilities for the purpose of providing shelter or housing to individuals as defined by section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) who has not been admitted (as so defined).

I am a strong proponent of humanitarian aid efforts in the immigration context, from preventing the breakup of individual families because of a wrongful deportation to ensuring that victims of civil wars and national disasters around the globe receive a temporary protected status under the U.S. immigration laws.

We should not condemn the use of public elementary or secondary schools provide shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted into the United States.

Whenever appropriate, space in our schools should be made available for humanitarian aid purposes, such as allowing migrants to stay there while they wait for processing and paperwork to conclude their legal residency status.

Other exceptions need to be reviewed, such as whether migrants could stay at schools when school is in session, but humanitarian aid should not be overlooked in the immigration context.

As a leading country on the global stage, it is our duty and responsibility to assist who we can in a legal manner.

More importantly, when it comes to schools in America, we should be addressing critical issues that are truly impacting our educational system--namely, the hostile state takeovers of majority-minority school districts--as is what is happening in my district with the Texas Education Agency takeover of the Houston Independent School District.

State takeovers in other districts have led to school closures, layoffs, and no improvements in test scores.

The vast majority of school districts that have been taken over by state agencies (TEA included) have not improved but declined.

With data ranging back to the late 1980s, researchers found that most state takeovers don't translate to academic improvements.

Republicans provide no evidence that the academic progress of students are negatively

impacted simply by attending a school which houses migrants.

H.R. 3941 is distractive, it is uninformed, it is pointless, provocative, inflammatory, and at best, an absolute waste of time.

Using the facilities of a public elementary or secondary school to provides shelter for non-U.S. nationals who are not admitted into the United States should not be politicized, as this is humanitarian issue and failure of our broken immigration system.

Instead of denying innocent people temporary humanitarian relief we should focus on stopping the State from meddling in and overstepping the boundaries our educational systems--causing further harm and damage to our communities.

Lastly, the Jackson Lee Amendment 19 was offered to add the word ``freeze'' to be included in the definition of ``specified disaster''.

This definition is particularly important to signify the dangers of deadly and disastrous weather conditions without snow.

In February 2012, my home state of Texas experienced an unprecedented deep freeze that crippled our state as temperatures dropped to as low as six degrees.

The freeze triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas state history, leading to shortages of water, food, and heat.

More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, some for several days and at least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed during the crisis.

These Jackson Lee Amendments 13, 15, 16, and 19 would have ensured that unaccompanied minors and migrants in need of temporary relief may be provided emergency shelter or housing using institutional facilities where appropriate.

It is a shame that we not made in order, and that we here with such an offensive and counterproductive bill, and that we are spending time on ineffective efforts instead of focusing on real immigration reform and resolutions for our nation's broken pathways for citizenship.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I speak in opposition to H.R. 3941, the scapegoating not solutions act. It is frustrating that we are taking up another proposal that, among other things, purports to improve school safety, yet does nothing to address school safety, does nothing to address learning loss, does nothing to address gun violence in the schools or improve students' mental health.

Regrettably, so far this Congress, House Republicans' priorities for K-12 education focused entirely on culture wars.

First, they passed legislation that would facilitate the banning of books. Then the House advanced a bill to seek to bar trans students from participating in sports activities.

House Republicans are currently working on a budget that makes devastating cuts to Federal support of education.

Now the House is considering yet another proposal to threaten to strip away funding from schools and institutions of higher learning if they use any of their facilities to temporarily house asylum seekers or undocumented immigrants in an emergency other than those caused by a disaster.

The message is clear: If you do not support this extreme agenda, congressional Republicans will pull your support for education.

Republicans have also falsely implied that temporarily using school facilities to provide shelter diverts educational resources from students already impacted by learning loss, and yet, they present no evidence to support this claim.

We can't meaningfully address learning loss or meet students' mental health needs if we are talking about taking away Federal funds from schools and institutions of higher learning that are not aligned with the Republicans' extreme agenda.

Republicans also claim that this bill is about school safety. Let's remember that this bill prohibits emergency sheltering of undocumented immigrants except due to disasters.

If it is not a disaster, and it is an emergency, you can't house the immigrants. If it is not an emergency, there is no prohibition. You can house the undocumented immigrants all year just so long as it is not an emergency. If it is a disaster, there is no prohibition.

You can also house other people. If it is school safety, how about housing defendants awaiting trial in pretrial detention or those on work release? How about housing them? No prohibition against that.

This isn't about school safety. We can't talk about protecting school safety without addressing gun violence. The reality is that Republicans have done nothing about gun violence in schools, which we know causes the greatest threat to our children's safety.

We have repeatedly said that any conversation about school safety that doesn't meaningfully address gun violence is not a serious conversation.

H.R. 3941 does not address the real issues confronting our students today, and that is ending gun violence and helping students address learning loss and threatens to take funds away from

schools and institutions of higher learning.

I, therefore, urge my colleagues to oppose the bill and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).

Mr. Speaker, prior to yielding to the gentleman from New York, I yield myself 1 minute to remind the gentleman about what his bill actually does. It does not prohibit the sheltering of anyone other than undocumented immigrants in an emergency short term. I mean, long term and not in an emergency, that is okay. Other people, that is okay.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Vasquez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a statement from Third Way urging Members to stand up for students across the country and vote ``no'' on this bill.

[From Third Way, July 18, 2023]

Third Way Statement on the Schools Not Shelters Act

(By Lanae Erickson)

Washington.--Third Way released the following statement

from Lanae Erickson, Senior Vice President for Social Policy,

Education, & Politics:

``House Republicans have found another target for their

'defund' campaign: schools. The Schools Not Shelters Act

would pull federal funding from any school that provides

undocumented immigrants with shelter, even temporarily. By

bringing this bill to the House floor, majority is yet again

signaling that their priority is to put politics over the

welfare of our country's students.

``During a time when teachers and students are working

tirelessly to overcome learning loss from the pandemic,

Republicans are threatening to defund schools to protest

something that has nothing to do with students' quality of

education. What's worse, schools in the poorest communities

across the country are the targets of this political stunt.

If Republicans really cared about students, they'd work with

Democrats to invest in our nation's schools and improve

educational outcomes. Instead, they're focusing on banning

books, banning history, and banning migrants. Teachers and

students have much bigger things to worry about.

``Republicans have backed out of every major bipartisan

immigration reform deal this century, leaving the system

outdated and overwhelmed. And now they're punishing American

students for the consequences of their inaction.

``We urge all Members to stand up for students across this

country and vote `no' on this bill.''

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record another letter from Council of the Great City Schools pointing out that the bill does nothing to help urban school districts and communities provide the needed educational and transitional services for newly arriving students and families.

Council of the Great City Schools,

June 12, 2023.

Hon. Virginia Foxx,

Chairwoman, Committee on Education and Workforce, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Bobby Scott,

Ranking Member, Committee on Education and Workforce, House

of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott: For more

than a century, urban schools have taken in children and

families from other countries who came to the United States

seeking a better life and who eventually served as the

backbone of the country. The nation's Great City Schools seek

to not only meet our legal obligations to provide educational

services to whomever comes through our doors but to do

everything we can in partnership with our local communities

to make sure that newly arriving students and families are

welcomed and prepared to give back to the country.

In recent years, the nation's urban public schools have

opened their doors to families from Afghanistan, Ukraine,

Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Vietnam, Sudan, and many other

countries as they were seeking refuge, freedom, and a better

tomorrow. In addition to providing newcomer aid, instruction,

and social services to students, the Great City Schools are

helping families find housing, coordinating community

services, and providing much of their initial social

contacts, translations, and food services. They have also

provided cultural orientations, language lessons, and other

assistance for refugee families upon their arrival. The

Council has examples from school districts across the

country--including Anchorage, Sacramento, Indianapolis, St.

Louis, Tulsa, Charlotte, and countless other cities--that are

working with their local agencies, faith-based leaders,

charities, and financial institutions to welcome new

arrivals, align and coordinate services, and create a

seamless transition into the public schools and the

community.

Unfortunately, the Schools Not Shelters Act (H.R. 3941)

before the committee does nothing to help urban school

districts and communities provide the needed educational and

transitional services for newly arriving students and

families. After decades of inaction, we urge Congress to

focus on bipartisan and comprehensive solutions to address

immigration reform rather than threatening federal funding or

intervening in local decision-making regarding housing for

those who need it.

Sincerely,

Raymond Hart,

Executive Director.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that my Republican colleagues are forcing through another proposal that contradicts our responsibility to help students succeed.

This bill threatens to take funding away from schools if they are used for emergency shelter to shelter undocumented immigrants, except specifically exempting cases of disaster. It allows anyone else to be sheltered, just not undocumented immigrants in an emergency.

We should be focusing on helping students make up for learning loss. They were out of school for a long time. Last Congress, congressional Democrats took critical steps to actually address learning loss by passing the American Rescue Plan Act, investing in students' abilities to offer after-school and summer mentorship and tutorial programs, yet not a single congressional Republican voted to pass the American Rescue Plan Act.

Now, they are seeking to pass a bill that takes funding away from public schools while also considering a budget that makes dangerous cuts to Federal educational funding.

If my colleagues want to address learning loss, we should be talking about evidence-based strategies that actually meet the needs of students.

If my colleagues want to keep students safe, we should be confronting what is actually killing them. Parents, teachers, and students are demanding that we take meaningful action on gun violence. Yet, my Republican colleagues refuse to budge on that issue.

Instead of coming up with meaningful solutions, Republicans are continuing to push their extreme agenda that does nothing to address learning loss or improve school safety.

We should all agree that our students, parents, and schools deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to respond to the amendment because the underlying bill makes little sense. I am not sure what the amendment does because if the amendment is passed, undocumented immigrants would be properly sheltered in the schools because there is an exemption for disasters. After 72 hours, 3 days if the disaster is still going on, I guess you would have to kick them out to avoid liability, unless the emergency is over. If there is no longer an emergency and they are not being housed under an emergency, they can't be housed because only emergency sheltering is allowed.

I don't know if this is good or bad, but I just oppose it, and I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 597, I call up the bill (H.R. 3941) to prohibit the use of the facilities of a public elementary school, a public secondary school, or an institution of higher education to provide shelter for aliens who have not been admitted into the United States, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3941.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3941, the Schools Not Shelters Act. In simplest terms, this bill ensures that any public K-12 or postsecondary education institution that houses illegal aliens will not receive a penny of funding from hardworking taxpayers.

Tens of thousands of illegal aliens are pouring into cities across the country, and this administration does nothing to secure the southern border. At its height in May, the average number of illegal border crossings averaged 10,000 per day. It is unsustainable and a slap in the face of Americans and those who come legally.

What is worse, Biden's allies at the State and local level have proposed using public school facilities to accommodate the influx.

Schools are for educating students, not housing illegal aliens. That statement shouldn't be controversial. Yet, somewhere along the way, the left diverged from reality and lost sight of what is best for students.

Take New York, for example. New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced plans to allocate up to 30 public school gymnasiums as overflow to house illegal aliens. Governor Hochul doubled down by expressing interest in housing 1,500 illegal aliens in dorms at a few SUNY campuses.

Adult illegal aliens, not children, were already being housed in Brooklyn at Public School 188 facilities by mid-May. Because of the thousands of migrants coming into New York City every week, New York City officials have stated they are in no position to take anything off the table when it comes to housing migrants.

Unfortunately, these actions set a precedent for other localities to follow. For example, in Chicago, 800 illegal aliens are being housed in two colleges.

H.R. 4931 puts a stop to this and for good reason. First, housing illegal aliens in public schools diverts educational resources away from students already reeling from the effects of prolonged school closures during the pandemic.

An entire generation of students has fallen behind academically. If you want proof, look no further than the latest NAEP student test scores for math, reading, civics, and history. They are abysmal.

Every educational resource available must be aimed at getting students back on track. Unfortunately, that is not a reality for many school districts.

In El Paso, surges in illegal aliens required the city to spend $300,000 a day in 1 month alone. That is nearly $10 million in 1 month, every dollar of which should have gone to students and our citizens.

Second, these policies drain institution budgets. It was reported that campuses within the University of Maine system that considered housing illegal aliens found that doing so would require millions to renovate unused facilities.

Beyond giving an old building a facelift, consider the recurring costs: electricity, water, and transportation, and those are just the basics. Make no mistake; institutions that bear increased costs to house illegal aliens will ultimately transfer that burden to students through tuition hikes or the American taxpayer.

Third, these actions perpetuate this administration's illegal border policies. Like many of the left's policies, they are shortsighted and do not address the root challenges that they are intended to solve. Housing illegal aliens in educational facilities is no different.

President Biden caused this mess at the southern border. He, along with his allies at the local and State level, should be the ones paying for their disastrous policies, not schoolchildren or postsecondary students.

Above all, consider this: No State, no city, no school district, and no institution is immune to the effects of an open border. Because of President Biden, every State has become a border State.

What we are voting on in the Schools Not Shelters Act is a change of priorities; putting students and taxpayers above the failed policies of President Biden. The Schools Not Shelters Act sends a message that Republicans will not stand for the left's sanctuary cities that continue to run cover for this administration. Nothing outweighs the success and safety of students.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro), who introduced this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Good), chair of the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean), who is chair of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. D'Esposito).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, housing illegal aliens in public educational facilities is downright dangerous, drains educational resources, and distracts school districts and universities from their primary mission of educating students.

This Chamber sees many rigorous debates about all types of issues facing the American people. I never imagined there would be a debate over the primary function of schools. Since when did schools being used for learning become a novel idea?

The Schools Not Shelters Act delivers a dose of reality to the Biden administration and the left who are putting students second to their open border policies. Enough is enough.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this important bill and stand up for students' well-being and academic success.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I was here earlier today, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--and I heard it again repeated just moments ago--were talking a lot about what this bill isn't. I am very familiar with what this bill is not.

It isn't a fix to IDEA, although children like my own living with disabilities would love for us to effectively engage in that.

This isn't a bill about ensuring vocational training, yet we want vocational training.

This isn't a bill about other aspects of education.

It is about one basic thing: Our schools are not to be used for shelters.

We wouldn't be here today, nor would I be compelled to present this legislation, were it not for a failure of this Federal Government--by the way, I acknowledge it is for generations. This administration is not taking seriously the crisis at our border, a true humanitarian crisis.

Earlier today, I heard my colleagues on the other side of the aisle argue that Governors across this country shouldn't be in the business of moving undocumented immigrants from one State to another State.

While I might share, and I do, from a very compassionate perspective--I spent 12 years as a local elected leader responsible for finding housing and shelter for unaccompanied minors. It was my job to take those individuals seeking asylum and find them locations, all in accordance with Federal law, shelters established under Federal law for the purposes of caring for people.

We would not be here today, nor would this bill be even necessary, were it not for the reality that the city of New York made a choice. The city of New York made a decision to be a welcoming, sanctuary city and, by definition, welcomed individuals from around the world, irrespective of their status.

Then, when they were confronted with this very real crisis that the White House and the Federal Government have ignored, the city of New York chose to declare that schools within New York City could be used as shelters.

In one elementary school in Brooklyn, the gymnasium was being prepared to house migrants during the school year while children were in class. This led to after-school activities, including sports, being canceled. Additionally, in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to house as many as 1,500 migrants at three different State universities in Albany, Buffalo, and Stony Brook.

We wouldn't be in this position if the city of New York worked effectively to address the crisis within the city.

Additionally, I heard earlier today that Governors from other States should have simply asked the President for financial help. Well, the same is true in the case of Eric Adams. He, in fact, did ask the President and the Federal Government for emergency action and additional financial assistance to contain the crisis within the city of New York and not export it to other parts of the State, and he was met with deafening silence.

This is a crisis of significance, and I respect, truly respect, this desire to be a compassionate people, but it is not compassionate. It is not compassionate to displace schoolchildren or to close down schools and convert them into shelters. Earlier today, I was told that that never would happen while students were there.

Well, schools during the summer months and entering into fall all across this country are used as centers of community. In some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in America, gymnasiums are used for after-school and summer activities, athletics. The cafeteria is used for nutrition and school lunches and breakfasts, all there to meet the needs of needy families.

For children like my own, schools across this country in the summer months are used to provide therapies and services to those with intellectual, physical, and developmental disabilities.

I understand what this bill is not, and based on my 30 years of experience in public office, it is not meant to be cruel to anyone. There are families in neighborhoods and parents and single moms and dads in urban centers all across this country who just want the school used for their children. They want their government to take responsibility for their actions, whether it is a city that welcomes people from around the world or the Federal Government responsible for containing and addressing this humanitarian crisis where it begins, at our borders.

Like all the other families across this country, I simply ask that Congress state this very clearly. This isn't about defunding anyone. This is about making clear that schools are for a single purpose, centers of community, education, and opportunity for our neighbors. They are not shelters. That

is what this bill affirms, a very basic sentiment.

It is one that I confront, no matter how many words others try to put in our mouths, from a very compassionate perspective. Our kids have already lost too much, and schools should be used for the purpose of educating and empowering kids in our neighborhoods.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3941, which is an inhumane, xenophobic messaging bill that seeks to punish the local governments that are welcoming and supporting migrants arriving from collapsing authoritarian governments to pursue their American Dream.

I come from New York City, which has embraced, housed, fed, vaccinated, and supported more than 80,000 migrants in the past year in the finest traditions of the home of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, where my grandmother arrived in this country.

We in New York City are incredibly proud of being what my distinguished colleague from New York refers to as a sanctuary city. I wish all of America could be a sanctuary country in the finest traditions of welcoming immigrants to our shores.

In the past year, there has not been a single violent incident at any of the nearly 200 shelters housing newly arrived migrants in New York City--not one. You tell me another community of 80,000 people where there is not a single violent incident. I challenge everyone.

It is a remarkable feat, and it demonstrates these individuals' desires, basic desires, to come and settle in this country and escape regimes that are cratering in Central and Latin America.

Despite the excessive burdens on the city's infrastructure and budget, many of the counties represented by the Republican sponsors of this bill have refused to accept migrants, and now they are trying to make it even harder to temporarily house migrants around the State in places that are empty for the summer.

This is simply another attempt by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to demonize immigrants seeking a better life in this country, a continuation of the effort to sow fear, division, and hate around the country.

My colleague from New York is right. We are in desperate need of immigration reform so that we can streamline and modernize our immigration system, boost our economy, and secure our borders. However, instead of using their majority to address our broken immigration system, Republicans are putting forward a meaningless and useless bill designed to scapegoat immigrants instead of solving our problems.

If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle truly wanted to address the influx of migrants into our communities, they would work with us to alleviate the financial strain on cities all around the country. They would come together with us to allow these migrants to work legally, which would not only allow them to support their families but would help businesses in desperate need of labor from a workforce shortage, would boost our economy, and, of course, would have the benefit of helping our local governments.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is not about protecting schools or children. It is the summertime, and the schools are mostly empty. If Republicans truly wanted to protect our schools and our children, they would instead focus on cracking down on rampant gun violence in our schools.

Just this year, there have been 20 school shootings, and gun violence is now the leading cause of death of children in America. Parents are not worried about migrants in schools during the summer. Parents are worried that their children won't come home from school. Republicans, instead, do nothing to keep our children safe at school.

Mr. Speaker, you can put lipstick on a pig, but dressing up your anti-immigrant xenophobia by invoking our schools does not change the fact that this bill is, in fact, covered by mud. I urge my colleagues to vote against this harmful bill.