As Republicans make moves to protect the southern border from illegal immigration, a member of Congress has a different idea: build another Statue of Liberty, instead.
During a U.S. House Homeland Security hearing on Tuesday, New York Democratic Rep. José Serrano said instead of building a wall, America should send a different signal: come as you are.
“This country should never build a wall to keep people out,” Serrano said.
Serrano said America should “deal with the immigration issue,” but a wall shouldn’t be included.
“On the contrary, build another Statute of Liberty on the southern border. That’s our message to the world, that statute, not the wall,” he said.
Serrano argued the wall would divide “our country.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are taking baby steps towards building the wall.
President Trump’s famous border wall may be less big and beautiful than he imagined, with a House panel on Tuesday advancing a bill that would allocate funding for just 28 miles of new wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Homeland Security bill, which passed the House Appropriations Committee, has $1.57 billion in border infrastructure funds, including $498 million for 28 miles of new levee wall in the Rio Grande Valley, amounting to $17.8 million per mile.
The bill includes another $784 million for 32 miles of new “border fencing” in the area, while $251 million was set aside for 14 miles of “secondary fencing” in San Diego, Calif.