Immigration

During markup today of the FY19 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME) cosponsored with Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) to make more H-2B visas available, a critical source of seasonal workers in Maine. Video of Pingree speaking in support of the amendment and discussing the shortage of labor for… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Congresswoman Peter Welch (D-Vermont) today introduced legislation to narrow the broad zone of DHS authority in the vicinity of U.S. borders. Under current regulations, the Department of Homeland Security has wide latitude to conduct traffic stops and warrantless property searches within 100 miles of the U.S. border.  Two out of every three… Read more »

During committee markup today, the House Appropriations Committee unanimously approved Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s amendment to the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, which would ensure that migrant siblings are kept together whenever possible while in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement on H.R. 6136, the immigration bill known as “Goodlatte 2” which failed in the House today. “To be clear, the mean-spirited bill we voted on today is by no means ‘moderate’—it was a compromise between the House anti-immigrant faction and the super anti-immigration faction. This… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement after Republicans cancelled today’s scheduled Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill. The legislation includes funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has been charged with caring for children separated from their families at the border… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement after visiting the Port Isabel ICE detention center that the Trump Administration has said will be the primary center for reunifying parents and children separated at the border. Photo of Pingree in front of the building. “The Trump Administration has announced that the Port Isabel ICE facility, which I… Read more »

DC—Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and nearly 60 other female members of Congress have jointly written to President Trump’s Secretaries of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to request answers as to the whereabouts, conditions of care, and lack of transparency surrounding the girls and babies who are among the 2,000 children… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) released the following statement on two immigration bills the House is scheduled to vote on today.    “Much like President Trump’s hateful and racist rhetoric about immigrants, both of these bill are offensive to American values. Neither of them are ‘moderate’—both dehumanize and degrade those seeking safety… Read more »

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D- Maine), hosted by Congressmen Filemon Vela (D-Texas) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), will be joined by more than 20 other Democratic Members of Congress on Saturday, June 23, at the U.S.-Mexico border near McAllen and Brownsville, Texas. The group will speak to children and parents who have been ripped apart by President Donald Trump’s and Attorney… Read more »

​Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME) today cosponsored the House version of the Keep Families Together Act, a companion bill to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s legislation to bar the federal government from separating children from their parents at the country’s border.  “I’m deeply troubled by the Administration’s approach of taking children away… Read more »