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CHC ON HOUSE GOP WORKING GROUP BORDER RECOMMENDATIONS

July 23, 2014

Washington, DC- Today, Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) released the following statement on the border recommendations put forth by the House GOP Working Group. The group is led by Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger (TX-12).

"The Congressional Hispanic Caucus does not believe changes should be made to the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). House Republicans say they are focused on the safety of the children, but their plan will only make children more vulnerable. By seeking changes to weaken the TVPRA, they risk sending children back to treacherous situations without due process. Our Border Patrol Agents have repeatedly expressed to Members that sending the National Guard to the border is unnecessary. Doing so is costly, and sending the National Guard to apprehend children from Central America who are voluntarily turning themselves in is not the way our country should treat such a vulnerable population. Congress needs to pass a clean supplemental funding bill to address this urgent humanitarian crisis, and we must not play politics with this issue. It is children - often times as young as 5 years old - who are at the center of this crisis.

"House Republican attacks on the Latino community continue, and this week, those attacks are more severe than ever. Tomorrow, the House is expected to vote on a series of human trafficking suspension bills and the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act. Though the suspension bills will improve our trafficking protections, House Republicans are claiming to care for human trafficking victims, refugees and children while actively working to weaken the most comprehensive trafficking bills ever passed by Congress, the TVPRA.

"The so-called Child Tax Credit Improvement Act would provide permanent tax cuts to many affluent families while allowing the tax provision to expire for low-income families. These changes would disproportionately harm low-income Latino families. Roughly 85% of the children adversely impacted by this change are Hispanic, including over 4 million U.S. citizen children who live in mixed-status homes.

"From their border recommendations to their failure to act on comprehensive immigration reform, House Republican attacks on the Latino community have persisted. It is time House Republicans stop these attacks and focus on what really matters - creating jobs, strengthening our economy, and ensuring the success of middle-class families."

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