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IN RECOGNITION OF BETSY LAWRENCE AND HER SERVICE TO THE HOUSE JUDICIARY
COMMITTEE
______
HON. JERROLD NADLER
of new york
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I rise, along with Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, to thank Betsy Lawrence for her service to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Betsy came to the Committee as part of a distinguished career working to advance the rights of immigrants and their families. She had previously worked for more than a decade at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, where she held several different positions, including Associate Director of Education, Associate Director of Liaison, and Director of Government Relations. Before joining AILA, Betsy was an associate attorney at Van Der Hout LLP. She earned her B.S. from Northeastern University and her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Betsy joined the Committee on the Judiciary as Counsel to our Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship in February 2019--an especially busy time as we prepared to advance a robust immigration reform agenda and conduct meaningful oversight of the Trump Administration's anti-immigrant policies. Betsy quickly proved herself to be an invaluable member of our immigration team, and we were pleased to promote her to Chief Counsel of our Immigration Subcommittee at the beginning of this Congress.
During her tenure here, Betsy played a pivotal role in ensuring House passage of numerous bills to provide for a more humane and just immigration system, including the American Dream and Promise Act, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, and the Access to Counsel Act. She was also heavily involved in our investigation into the Trump Administration's ``zero tolerance'' or family separation policy, our efforts to include meaningful immigration reform in the reconciliation process, and our work to ensure immigration provisions were included in the America COMPETES Act of 2022. Despite our polarized political climate, Betsy and her team successfully worked to pass several bills into law, including the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act and the HOPE (Honoring Our Promises through Expedition) for Afghan SIVs Act of 2021. The Committee is deeply proud of her record of accomplishment.
The country has been fortunate to have Betsy working hard within the halls of Congress to reform our broken immigration system, undo the harms caused by the last administration, and ensure the expedient issuance of special immigrant visas to those who served side by side with American troops in Afghanistan. Although we will miss her greatly, we know she will continue to make her country proud as she transitions to her new role in the Biden-Harris Administration.
We thank Betsy for her service to the Committee and wish her the best of luck with this new chapter.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 25
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