[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 102 (Tuesday, June 19, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FAMILY SEPARATION

  (Mr. CORREA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, in late May of this year, a 5-year-old boy 
named Jose and his father arrived in El Paso, Texas. Together, they had 
braved the dangerous trek from Honduras to the United States in search 
of freedom from gang violence, poverty, and hardship.
  They came as asylum seekers and put themselves at the mercy of 
American laws. Instead, they were treated like criminals.
  They journeyed across the continent for a life free of violence and a 
life free of crime. It is a human right enshrined in international law.
  When Jose arrived at the border, he was ripped away from his father 
and detained. Neither one of them were told when, or if, they would see 
each other again.
  Jose was assigned to a host family he had never met, taken to a house 
he had never lived in, and was treated like a prisoner in the land of 
freedom.
  According to his host family, every night he placed a handwritten 
picture of his family under his pillow, holding out hope that they 
would someday be reunited.
  This is the picture that he drew.
  This is immoral, illegal, and an un-American practice that will not 
go unchallenged.

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