[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 28 (Thursday, February 16, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H1250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CENTRAL AMERICAN REFUGEES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Torres) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about one of the 
consequences of Donald Trump's refugee ban that has so far been 
ignored.
  The day after Donald Trump issued his executive order to ban refugees 
and all citizens from seven Muslim majority countries, four children 
from El Salvador landed in Miami International Airport.
  It is a short flight from El Salvador, but the children had been 
waiting a long time to come here. In 2015, they applied to come here 
through the Central American Minors program that was started in 2014 as 
a safe and legal way for a limited--a very small--number of children 
from Central America.
  After submitting to DNA tests, screenings, and a long application 
process, they were finally given visas, and they were on their way 
here. However, after landing at Miami and passing through the Customs 
and Border Protection screening, and on their way to their connecting 
flight, they were stopped and pulled into a secondary inspection. For 
six long hours, these children were detained in a cold room without 
food or water.
  These children had done everything right, and waited a long time to 
flee a very traumatic situation. They came here, and their first 
experience was to be treated like criminals.
  This is just one example of how Trump's hasty, harmful executive 
order is undermining our American values. It is just one more reason 
why, instead of rewriting it, as he says that he is doing, he should 
rescind it altogether.
  But, of course, these children are the lucky ones, the fortunate few 
who got a chance to come here legally.
  Many of my colleagues will recall that, in the summer of 2014, 
thousands of children from Central America arrived at our southern 
border. Those children were fleeing gangs and violence. Many of them 
turned themselves in to the Border Patrol. They were not trying to 
sneak in to our country. They were asking for asylum. They were asking 
for relief and protection.
  We knew that if we were going to stop kids from making that dangerous 
journey to come here, some of them walking over 1,000 miles to our 
southern border, that we would have to tackle the root causes that 
compelled them to leave. So the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador, and 
Guatemala, with some help from General John Kelly, came up with a plan 
to bring some stability to those three countries. And Congress, working 
on a bipartisan basis, provided some financial support.

  But even as we make long-term investments in the Northern Triangle, 
we need to deal with the fact that children from these countries still 
need our protection in the short-term. That is why the Obama 
administration created a few programs to help a very small number of 
those children.
  Those children did what we asked them. They didn't come across our 
border. They didn't cross Mexico. They waited in line as they were 
told, even if waiting in line meant staying in harm's way. Because of 
Donald Trump's executive order, those children now face a very 
uncertain future.
  Lost in the media coverage of this order is the suspension of the 
refugee program, blockage of these vulnerable children as well. I am 
glad that the judge has stayed the order. I hope that the President 
will respect the judge's order.
  But more than that, I hope that the President will take a real look 
at all the harm that he has already caused for so many people, 
including so many innocent children. I hope that he puts an end to his 
cruel, counterproductive executive order once and for all.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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