[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 136 (Wednesday, September 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6144-H6145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR PUERTO RICAN CIVILIANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask us to take action on 
a scathing Department of Justice investigation of a police department 
that ``regularly violates the constitutional rights of civilians 
through illegal searches, detentions, and arrests,'' that ``continues 
to demonstrate a deliberate indifference to the public's safety and the 
civil rights of individuals engaging in protected speech activities 
during protests,'' a police force where ``officers engage in a pattern 
and practice of unreasonable force and other misconduct to suppress the 
exercise of protected First Amendment rights.''
  The report details the abuse against the people of Puerto Rico that 
they are facing by the Puerto Rico Police Department. Underscore, I 
said, ``I rise to bring the urgent attention of the U.S. House of 
Representatives to a human rights and civil rights crisis.'' I further 
stated, ``where the right of students to protest and speak their minds 
is being denied with clubs and mace and pepper spray.''
  I spoke those words 7 months ago on this floor. The DOJ report states 
that the Governor of Puerto Rico has ``supreme authority'' over the 
police. Did he use that supreme authority to respond to Puerto Ricans 
who asked for help? Yes, he did.
  The Governor's ruling party took immediate action after I detailed 
the abuse. The ruling party was outraged. It was outraged at me. Facing 
a civil rights crisis, the ruling party of Puerto Rico acted without 
hesitation, convening the legislature to urgently pass legislation to 
censure me for speaking out.
  In part, the censure reads: ``Congressman Luis Gutierrez made false 
allegations about a supposed human rights crisis in Puerto Rico; he 
expressed himself in a denigrating and malicious manner about the 
honorable body of the Puerto Rico police; all of which tends to hurt 
the good image and good name of Puerto Rico.''
  Here's the problem: The ruling party of Puerto Rico has made clear 
time and time again they are not concerned about the abuse of their 
people, only that the world might notice that abuse. They don't seem to 
understand that if you love people, you stand up and you speak out, not 
pretend that everything is all right.
  For standing up, the Government of Puerto Rico gave me a 600-word 
censure. But the government didn't give one word, not one word of 
censure, to what happened to Rachel Hiskes.
  Here's what the DOJ describes happened to her:
  ``A student journalist, Rachel Hiskes, entered the Capitol with other 
individuals and attempted to access the senate chambers.
  ``Puerto Rico Police Department officers, who had been dispatched to 
the capitol earlier in the day, stopped Hiskes and hit her.
  ``She was not resisting or combative. Hiskes then sat in the hallway 
with other visitors in protest. A capitol employee then sprayed Hiskes 
and others with chemical irritants.
  ``As Hiskes tried to get up, an officer hit her across the back with 
a baton, causing her to fall. An officer continued to push and strike 
her with his baton, driving her toward the doorway.
  ``When she reached the door and had her back to the officer, the 
officer shoved her out onto the concrete stairs using his baton and 
hitting her in the neck.
  ``Hiskes was never arrested or charged with any crime.''
  Instead of protecting people like Rachel, the government derided the 
people.
  This Governor's chief of staff, a man he has absurdly tasked with 
responding to the Department of Justice report, said protesting workers 
would be treated as ``terrorists'' and boasted he would

[[Page H6145]]

personally kick protesting students off campus.
  This government cannot fix a problem they helped to create and 
expand.
  The students, bloodied with batons, deserve more. The workers beaten 
and the journalists pepper-sprayed deserve more.
  And, to be clear, the many honorable and brave Puerto Rican police 
officers, men and women who are incorruptible, who do their jobs right 
and risk their lives every day, they deserve more too.
  When crimes like these are brought to light, we expect criminal 
indictments.
  I want to see a special prosecutor appointed, the grand jury seated, 
the trials begun and see those responsible, not just the police 
officers following orders but those who directed the police to 
systematically suppress free speech, sent to jail.
  The goal must be to reestablish the rule of law and to reestablish a 
police department in Puerto Rico that protects and serves the people. 
The goal must be a police department fighting crime, not committing 
crime. The goal must be that no government can act with impunity 
against its own people.
  And I have one last recommendation. The Governor of Puerto Rico 
should apologize to his people. Puerto Ricans have called out for help. 
In response, the Governor and the ruling party have led an effort to 
demonize them for standing up for their civil rights.
  Governor, the Department of Justice of the United States of America 
has just made clear that your people were right and you were wrong, and 
it is time for you to say you're sorry.

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