Press Releases
June 4, 2019
WASHINGTON – Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement on the passage of the Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 6:
May 31, 2019
WASHINGTON— Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to open an investigation into the backlog of immigration cases of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) following a request from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) and House Democrats to ensure that the agency was fulfilling its mandate and ensure good governance. The request was led by Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and signed by over 80 other House Democrats.
May 30, 2019
WASHINGTON— Today, the Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus – Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (CA-37), and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Judy Chu (CA-27) – released the following statement on recently uncovered documents from late-Republican strategist Thomas B. Hofeller and its implications on the Trump Administration’s inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census:
May 29, 2019
WASHINGTON— Today, the Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus – which is composed of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – celebrated the appointment of Lonnie G. Bunch III, the current Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, as the first person of color chosen to lead the Smithsonian Institution in its 173 year history.
May 25, 2019
WASHINGTON— Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Leaders called on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Director Scott Lloyd to provide answers to Congress on the death of Darlyn Valle, a 10 year old migrant from El Salvador, in HHS ORR custody. Darlyn died in September 2018. Her death was not reported to the public or Congress and only became known eight months later when the news media broke a story on her death on May 22, 2019.
May 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — Today, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus held a press conference on the pattern of migrant children deaths in custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), following yesterday’s death of Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16-year-old Guatemalan immigrant. Five children have died in the last six months while in Custom and Border Patrol (CBP) custody or soon after being detained by immigration authorities. Below are remarks as delivered by Congressman Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus:
May 20, 2019
WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement on the death of Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16 year-old Guatemalan migrant, in CBP custody this morning:
May 20, 2019
WASHINGTON—– Tomorrow, May 20th, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a press conference on the death of a 16-year-old in custody of U.S. immigration agencies. The death, which was reported to Congress today, is the fifth death of a minor in the custody of federal immigration officials in the last six months.
May 16, 2019
WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s proposed plan to address immigration in the United States:
May 11, 2019
WASHINGTON— Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Hispanic Caucus, and 81 of his Democratic colleagues called on Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, to instruct the GAO to thoroughly examine the backlog of immigration cases at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and work with the agency to fulfill its mission of processing immigration cases. The current immigration backlog stands at over 2.3 million, with case processing times rising to 33 months. The processing time rose significantly at the onset of the Trump Administration, despite lower rates of new cases.