'That's The Law Today!': Jamie Raskin Tees Off On New GOP-Backed Migrant DUI Bill

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During debate on the House floor, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) spoke in opposition to HR 875.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield myself such time as it may consume.

00:04Greetings, Mr. Moore. With this strained legislation, we are bumping into two major

00:09social problems, deadly drunk driving on our roads and a broken immigration system.

00:15But, alas, we're not doing anything to solve either problem. The bill pretends to do something

00:21about both of them, but it really does little or nothing about either of them. We lose 11,000

00:26people a year to drunk driving crashes. More than a million people are arrested on DUI

00:32charges every year, Mr. Speaker. I lost a beloved cousin of mine in Florida who was in the prime

00:38of her life just after graduating from college when she was killed by a drunk driver while

00:43she was riding a bicycle on the roads of Florida. So I take this issue very seriously of drunk

00:50driving, and I've worked on it fastidiously for a long time in my career. There's a lot

00:55we could do in Congress to improve safety on the streets, including imposing a nationwide

01:00mandatory ignition interlock device on the cars of all convicted drunk drivers. We did that

01:08in my state of Maryland after fighting the liquor lobby for a long time, but we finally

01:13got that done. We could also pass my bill, the Sarah Debbink-Langenkamp Act of Transportation

01:19Safety Act, which would support state and local government efforts to build safer transportation

01:25networks for bicyclists and for pedestrians. Unfortunately, this bill doesn't do anything

01:31like that. Indeed, it's hard to see how it will reduce drunk driving at all. It's obviously

01:37not a serious attempt to address the social problem of drunk driving. It does not increase criminal

01:45penalties for DUI anywhere in the country, and it does nothing to promote public education

01:51about the dangers of drunk driving. It will sadly improve nothing on the roads. As an immigration

01:57law, it does nothing to make it more difficult for undocumented people to enter our country unlawfully,

02:04nor does it make it easier for people to acquire the documents to enter the country legally. It

02:11is a purely punitive measure, and it's both radically under-inclusive and radically over-broad. It only

02:18targets the very tiny fraction of all DUI violations in the country committed by non-citizens and does

02:25nothing to crack down on drunk driving by citizens who are responsible for the vast majority of it.

02:31Immigrants who drive drunk are already covered by the criminal law, and the undocumented ones are

02:37already categorically deportable. They don't need to drive drunk to be deported. They are deportable now

02:44because they are not in the country lawfully. Additionally, because of the breadth of DUI statutes

02:51around the country, this legislation will render deportable people who never drove drunk at all

02:57without any opportunity for judicial discretion or waiver. Under current immigration law, undocumented

03:04people are already both inadmissible and deportable. Furthermore, conviction for serious DUIs already

03:13render even lawful permanent residents who have been in the country for decades potentially deportable

03:22and inadmissible in the first instance. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any non-citizen who is

03:28convicted of or who admits to a crime involving moral turpitude, a so-called CIMT, is generally

03:36inadmissible to the country. Likewise, any non-citizen who's convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude

03:44where a sentence of one year or longer may be imposed is deportable from the country. So serious DUI

03:50offenses are already deportable crimes under current law. The following DUI offenses are all considered

03:58crimes involving moral turpitude. Any DUI where the maximum possible penalty is a year or more and

04:04where there is serious bodily harm hit and runs any aggravated DUI and any DUI involving driving with

04:13knowledge of having an invalid, suspended, or revoked license. But this bill goes far beyond even this

04:21very stringent current law by making permanent resident green card holders deportable for a single

04:29infraction even where no one is hurt and no property is damaged. This will lead to some very harsh results.

04:36In Arizona, sleeping in your car while drunk without even starting the car can get you convicted of a

04:42misdemeanor DUI. And under this bill, a single conviction for even that offense would make a 20-year

04:50permanent resident of America, a green card holder, deportable from the country. That person is

04:56rightfully deportable if they engage in an act of drunk driving that hurts someone or kills someone.

05:02But that's the law today. Or if they drive drunk without a license. But that's the law today. And an

05:08undocumented alien is of course deportable in all cases. So you don't need a statute to deport them for

05:14falling asleep drunk in their car. Today, there are nearly 13 million green card holders, permanent

05:22residents in the United States. These are people who have followed all the rules. We're not talking about

05:29undocumented people, people who are here unlawfully. They're already taken care of. But there are 13

05:35million green card holders in the United States with 9 million eligible to become citizens now.

05:40Categorically deporting individuals who are convicted for any DUI offense without any regard

05:48for the severity or consequence simply defies common sense. This legislation on a tiny subset of criminal

05:55events distracts from the real problem. My distinguished colleague has invoked several terrible

06:03drunk driving incidents by repeat offenders who are undocumented. They should have been deported from the

06:09country long ago. My colleague is talking about people who drunk drive and kill people. That's

06:16already a deportable and inadmissible offense. So that's not what the meaning of this legislation is.

06:24So let's look at what a tiny slice of criminal events we're talking about and ask whether in fact

06:35that's something that advances public policy. I don't think it does. Let's work together to impose

06:41compulsory ignition interlock devices on the cars of all convicted drunk drivers, including the overwhelming

06:48majority who are U.S. citizens, and let's really make the road safer and stop the repetitive scapegoating

06:56of immigrants. We can address DUIs in a serious way here in Congress if we're serious about the issue. That's

07:03what I did as a state senator in Maryland. We could do that across the country, Madam Speaker, and I will

07:09reserve the balance of my time.

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