Speier’s strange vote for HR 3004

HR 3004 greatly expands the maximum prison sentences (10 to 25 years) for repeat border-crossing offenses and provides for prosecution of those who help undocumented immigrants cross the border. Since it includes no humanitarian exceptions, it will make the most vulnerable (asylum seekers, mainly women and children fleeing social or domestic violence at home) even more vulnerable. As argued by Asian-Americans Advancing Justice, the bill eliminates protections and safeguards in currently-existing law for asylum seekers and trafficking victims — in essence exposing them to prosecution for seeking help.

Furthermore, the bill contains constitutional violations of due process for some immigrants by depriving them of their right to challenge a prior order of deportation. As argued by the one Republican who opposed the bill (Michigan Rep. Justin Amash), “This bill unconstitutionally eliminates the opportunity for those charged with illegal re-entry to challenge the validity of a removal order” — whether that prior deportation order was fair or just.

HR 3004 was passed by all but one Republican (Justin Amash), and by 24 Democrats in the House. The vast majority of those 24 Democrats represent pro-Trump districts, so that their electoral future as soon as 2018 could theoretically be in jeopardy if the Democratic Party leadership had not given them the leeway to vote for the bill. But that certainly does not apply to U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, who represents one of the most pro-immigrant districts in the entire country. Yet in the case of HR 3004, Speier apparently took cover under the liberty given to vulnerable Democrats to capitulate to hardline Trump/Republican-think on punishing undocumented immigrants and denying their rights.

The logic of “punitive deterrence,” criminalizing re-entry efforts by immigrants and asylum-seekers, is not only cruel, but also ineffective. Extensive research has demonstrated that it simply does not prevent people from making more than one effort to migrate or to flee intolerable conditions in their home countries in areas such as Mexico and Central America’s Northern Triangle. The huge amounts of money proposed to be spent in HR 3004 on enforcement-only strategies, subsidizing private jails, could be much more effectively spent on progressive reforms that help improve the conditions of life and work in the countries of origin.

U.S. Rep. Speier is not generally an immigration hawk. But on this bill, in contrast with the principled position taken by U.S. Rep. Amash, bringing down upon him the wrath of his own Republican Party, she seems to have caved in to Republican arguments. Right-wing sources have gleefully celebrated her vote for HR 3004. But this vote abandons San Francisco/San Mateo County voters and our values.

Susanne Jonas is a member of Pacifica Social Justice, a grassroots organization. She taught Latin American and Latino studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for 24 years. Her most recent book, co-authored with Nestor Rodriguez, is Guatemala-U.S. Migration: Transforming Regions (University of Texas Press, 2015).