[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 13, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      WE ARE OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand in the well 
of the House, I am proud to be an American, and I am proud to say that 
today I rise because I believe that separating children from their 
parents because they are fleeing violence is antithetical to American 
values.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise because I do not believe that this is consistent 
with the golden rule and that this is not doing unto others as we would 
have them do unto us if we were similarly situated.
  I rise because I believe that this is not what the good Samaritan 
would do. The Good Samaritan not only provided immediate aid and 
comfort, but also took the person who had been harmed to a place where 
that person could receive additional aid and comfort and went so far as 
to say: I am leaving this amount with you. If this is not enough, I 
will come back, and I will give you more.
  This is antithetical to our values. Separating children from their 
parents, be it mother or father, is still a separation of a child from 
the person whom the child has grown to believe will be there to protect 
him or her.
  This is antithetical to what we believe in. It is antithetical to the 
notion that we are our brother's keeper, that we look out for others; 
that there is but one race, and it is the human race; and that all of 
God's creation was meant to live in harmony as it relates to humans.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not being one's brother's keeper. You cannot be 
your brother's keeper without keeping your brother. We have become a 
country who would like to see those who are in harm's way helped--but 
by someone else. If you are fleeing violence in Syria, let's make sure 
that someone else can help you.
  Mr. Jose Escobar, my constituent, was fleeing violence. He was 
brought up from El Salvador by his mother, trying to save her son, and 
now he has found himself separated from his wife and his two children 
with $20 in his pocket and sent back to El Salvador. I went there to 
see him. I know of what I speak.
  Mr. Speaker, this is antithetical to our values, and it is 
detrimental to our existence as a great nation. It is time for us to 
take a stand and demand that this administration that can find reason 
to criticize football players, that can find reason to say there were 
some fine people among those in Charlottesville, and that can find 
reason to call women names, it is time for this administration and this 
President to end this antithetical policy as it relates to American 
values.
  I proudly stand here as a proud American.

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