A rubber stamp

Dear Friend,

Yesterday, when I'm sure they thought nobody was watching, Senate Republicans forced through a party line confirmation vote for Chad Wolf to an undersecretary position at the Department of Homeland Security. It is widely believed that President Trump will appoint him as the next Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. Wolf is the favored pick of senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the lead architect of the White House's immoral and anti-immigrant policies over the last three years. That should tell us everything we need to know.

I hope you can take a moment to watch and share a speech I delivered on the Senate floor condemning this vote and calling for an honest accounting of the Trump administration's inhumane and ineffective policies.

VIDEO: U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich speaks out against the confirmation of Chad Wolf and President Trump's immigration policies, November 13, 2019.

Under these policies, thousands of children as young as infants and toddlers arriving at our nation's southern border have been separated from their families. We have seen migrant families and children held in appalling, overcrowded, prison-like immigrant detention facilities like those in Clint, Texas. President Trump has played politics with the lives of Dreamers, asylum seekers, and refugees. He has gone so far as shutting down the government and stealing billions of dollars of congressionally appropriated funds from the military to pay for his wasteful border wall.

Now the Republican-led Senate has confirmed someone who will simply rubber stamp the continued failures of this administration. I will never stop fighting for policy that respects the dignity of immigrants, recognizes the real needs of our vibrant border communities, and lives up to our true American values. As the son of an immigrant, this is personal to me. I encourage you to write to me about this and other issues important to you and your family.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH

United States Senator