[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H4851-H4852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WHAT FAMILY VALUES?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, I don't want to hear another Republican 
Member of Congress come to this microphone to speak about family values 
ever again. I don't want to hear about protecting families or honoring 
families or putting families first, because each and every time a 
Republican invokes family values on this floor, it will be a lie, and a 
cruel lie at that.
  If you want to run on the President's record to keep your job so you 
can feed your family, part of the price is that you have zero 
credibility when it comes to family values from now until forever.
  Along the southern border, hundreds of children have been taken from 
their parents and hundreds have been held in border stations without 
sleeping rooms or adequate bedding for several days in violation of 
Federal laws that safeguard children.
  We are told that the number of children in the care of the agency we 
put in charge is now above 11,000 children, but we don't know for sure, 
because the government, our government, your government, is not telling 
us what is really going on, and an oversight hearing with the Secretary 
of Homeland Security scheduled for today was canceled at the Judiciary 
Committee.
  Hundreds of children in the care of Border Patrol, most of them under 
the age of 12, and 11,000 total in the system.
  The White House thinks Latinos are not really human beings, so we can 
treat them however we want and it doesn't matter; after all, it is not 
like they are coming from Norway.
  The President and the Attorney General say they are ``illegals,'' 
which is also a lie, and they know it. People fleeing violence and 
systematic rape and murder can come to the U.S., can ask for political 
asylum, and it is 100 percent legal under the laws of the United 
States.
  Every one of us knows that taking a child from a mother is morally 
wrong except in the most extreme cases.
  In this country's history, we sold millions of Black children because 
they were considered property during slavery, and we stole Native 
American children from their families to strip them of their culture 
and heritage because we labeled them as savages.
  Most people think these are among the most shameful chapters in 
American history--most people. But we all know how the President feels 
about Latino children. He says they are ``not so innocent,'' so I guess 
he thinks they are programmed to turn into the people he calls animals 
and rapists because of where they were born.
  According to the White House Chief of Staff, the children at the 
border will be ``put in foster care or whatever.'' And the Attorney 
General says he believes the children will be well taken care of ``for 
the most part.''
  Forgive me if I don't put much stock in national leaders whose 
concern for children includes the terms ``or whatever,'' or ``for the 
most part.''
  So, Republicans, do not ever come to this floor and claim that your 
party supports families and defends children. You have lost all your 
family values privileges.
  This afternoon, I will meet with families that were broken up because 
the meat packing plant where their parents work was raided in April by 
ICE and the Tennessee State Troopers.
  Please tell them about your family values.
  We don't provide legal ways for their parents to come here because 
Republicans oppose legal immigration, but employers need the workers, 
and those parents are under constant threat of arrest, deportation, and 
never seeing their children again.
  The owners of the plant that employed the workers, as far as we know, 
nothing has happened to them, and they are probably going to enjoy 
dinner with their families again tonight.
  Last week in Chicago and this morning in Ohio, a few hundred more 
working people were rounded up and their children, most of whom are 
U.S. citizens, are left without their parents. In Pennsylvania, it was 
restaurant workers; in Iowa, it was concrete plant workers.
  Tearing apart Latino families is an election year strategy for this 
White

[[Page H4852]]

House designed to energize Republican voters for primaries and midterms 
this year to reelect Republican Members of the House and the Senate.
  And let's not forget that, while almost 5,000 Puerto Ricans were 
dying--yes, dying, and are still dying today--your President was giving 
himself an A-plus and saying there had been no real catastrophe, all 
while families were telling us of the loved ones they were losing 
because they didn't have electricity or medicine or a hospital.
  So to my Republican colleagues, some of whom I love dearly, please 
don't you ever come to the well of this House and tell the country that 
you support family values. Don't you dare. Your time talking about 
family values is over.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). Members are reminded to 
refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.

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