•      "We recommend a NO vote on H.R. 35, The Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act. This bill is named after Border Patrol Agent Raul Gonzalez who tragically lost his life after a high speed chase resulted in life-threatening injuries and hospitalization. This bill imposes additional harsh criminal legal system and immigration penalties while furthering false and politicized narratives about immigrants without truly addressing the dangers posed by practices such as high speed car chases to all border residents…The language in H.R. 35 is overbroad and vague. For example it creates penalties for “evading arrest or detention” and “intentionally fleeing” law enforcement which could be broadly applied especially in border communities that are already experiencing over-policing and racial profiling, as well as dangerous outcomes from high speed car chases. Black and Brown people are disproportionately more likely to be stopped, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to longer terms. There has been bipartisan recognition of the racial biases in the criminal legal system, and multiple bipartisan reform efforts. Increasing the severity or breadth of immigration penalties for contact with the criminal legal system will inevitably transfer these endemic discriminatory impacts into immigration law." Source: Immigrant Legal Resource Center

•      "I voted against the bill because I believe that our American system of justice should provide people with strong due process protections. This bill would water down the requirement to actually convict somebody before they are eligible for deportation for committing a crime. Someone could be deported if they merely  “admitted” to committing the offense or its essential elements. This weaker threshold would apply to immigrants who have legally been in the U.S. for decades, who may have families, and who entered this country “the right way.” Notably, the stricter requirement to secure a conviction before being able to deport somebody would still apply to far more serious crimes like murder and rape. I do not believe that America will be stronger if we water down legal protections simply for the sake of showing our understandable frustration with our dysfunctional immigration system. Our immigration laws badly need sensible reform. I remain committed to working with Republicans to promote common-sense ideas that the vast majority of Americans can agree on.." Source: Rep. Seth Moulton (Democrat, Massachusetts, District 6)