[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 106 (Monday, June 25, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5635-H5642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WHAT HAPPENED TO FAMILY VALUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Evans) is 
recognized for half of the remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee 
of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for allowing me to lead 
this critical Special Order to speak about the lack of family values 
demonstrated by the Trump administration and the GOP, their choice to 
mismanage, and to offer a counternarrative to the wayward path they are 
leading us down.
  Black people have no permanent friends or permanent enemies or 
permanent interests, as so eloquently stated by former Congressman 
William Lacy Clay, Sr.
  Mr. Speaker, the President asked Black Americans: What do you have to 
lose?
  The Congressional Black Caucus responded with a document that was 
hand-delivered to him that is titled, ``We Have a Lot to Lose.''
  Over the course of the 2016 Presidential election, time and time 
again, then-candidate Donald Trump asked the Black community a larger 
question: ``What do you have to lose?''
  The inquiry presupposes that the experience of all African Americans 
is destitute and that we live in fear. In fact, President Trump 
declared some African Americans' communities are

[[Page H5636]]

worse than war zones, demonstrating a lack of understanding of both 
constituencies.
  The election has come and gone, and the time for the campaign calls 
is over. Now President Trump represents all Americans and must govern 
this Nation for the good of all Americans, whether they are Black or 
White, rich or poor, conservative or liberal.
  So as the conscience of the Congress, the voice of the 78 million 
Americans and 17 million African Americans, the Congressional Black 
Caucus is obligated to answer President Trump's questions.
  The answer: The African Americans have a great deal to lose under the 
Trump administration, and we have already lost a lot.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our chairman, Chairman Richmond, for 
allowing me this opportunity to conduct this Special Order.
  Over the next hour, we will speak about some of the issues that have 
faced the Congressional Black Caucus and Black people in this Nation. I 
say that to you because of this document I have in my hand, ``We Have a 
Lot to Lose.'' In this document that was presented to the President of 
the United States, it outlines those various issues.
  What are we losing?
  Based on last week's passage of the farm bill here in the House, we 
have lost benefits under the SNAP program. Thank God for the Senate, 
Mr. Speaker, because the Senate has passed a different version. I hope, 
Mr. Speaker, that that version will be the version that becomes the law 
of this land.
  The Senate passed a version 20-1 out of committee, and they will 
bring that up for a vote because, Mr. Speaker, I believe that 
represents better the views and values of Members of this body. I do 
not believe the version that we passed in the farm bill represents this 
body.
  I am disappointed that the GOP leadership had the unmitigated gall to 
bring this highly partisan and warped bill to the House floor for a 
second vote, posing as a farm bill. Nothing changed in the bill since 
the last time it came to the floor, so you have to wonder what was 
offered or said to those Members who voted ``no'' just a month ago to 
change their votes.
  The partisan approach of the majority has produced a bill that will 
hurt thousands of people in the city of Philadelphia and the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Agriculture Committee, I submitted 
letters from the mayor of the city of Philadelphia. In that letter, the 
mayor of the city of Philadelphia laid out specifically the impact that 
that particular bill that came out of the House Agriculture Committee 
would have on the people of the city of Philadelphia. You are talking 
about affecting over 200,000 to 300,000 people in the city of 
Philadelphia.
  In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1.8 million people can be 
affected. In Montgomery County, in the county I represent, 50,000 
people are affected.
  So, Mr. Speaker, it is clear that that bill that passed this House by 
only two votes was misguided and was heading in the wrong direction.
  It is also clear, Mr. Speaker, that people who are on SNAP do not 
fight to be on SNAP. They understand clearly about the challenges that 
they face.
  Forty-two million Americans are on SNAP. No, Mr. Speaker, those 
people are not fearful of work. They understand if there is a great 
opportunity available for them, they would take advantage of the 
opportunity.
  I think it is clear to me, Mr. Speaker, that, again, this 
administration and the GOP were lacking some sense of connection to 
what people's values are. As a result, you saw that vote that took 
place last week. It again sends us in the wrong direction. It raises 
serious questions about the lack of family values from a party that is 
always talking about family values; but now, all of a sudden, Mr. 
Speaker, it seems like family values have gone out the window. Under 
this version of the farm bill, people will go hungry in my city and 
around the Nation.
  As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities notes, the House bill 
breaks with the long history of bipartisan efforts to improve and 
reform SNAP. It is clear, Mr. Speaker, there were 23 hearings on the 
issue of SNAP, and not one single time in the 23 hearings did they 
suggest that there should be a different direction in terms of SNAP.
  Mr. Speaker, Democrats are for work. We are very clear. Members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus understand the importance of work. We 
know what it means to work. But to me, Mr. Speaker, that was a 
wrongheaded policy in terms of the farm bill. It did not justify that 
action, and it should not have even gone anywhere.
  But as usual, Mr. Speaker, some people don't realize the election is 
over. We need to work together--Democrat, Republican, conservative, 
liberal, whoever it may be--because hunger is a problem, Mr. Speaker. 
It is not a problem just in certain communities; it is a problem across 
this Nation.
  In spite of the employment numbers and in spite of what is told to us 
about the economy, there are a lot of people who are hungry. There are 
a lot of people who are left out of the process. This is not something 
that we should take lightly.

                              {time}  2030

  This is something that we would recognize and something we should 
work together on.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I say to you today that it is clear to me that the 
Republicans and the Trump administration have gone in the wrong 
direction. When you talk about the issue of families and what needs to 
take place, this is not about family values.
  I stress to you, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, millions of 
Americans who receive SNAP are consumers and are important parts of the 
economy who our farmers and ranchers depend on as a part of our farm 
and food economy.
  Mr. Speaker, I have consistently said that food is medicine. Food is 
medicine and food policy is foreign policy. It is not something we 
should take lightly.
  So today, the Congressional Black Caucus is going to talk about the 
importance of values, and particularly family values, and how all of a 
sudden there is amnesia when it comes down to the question of values.
  We are saying to you today, Mr. Speaker, we want to make sure that 
people understand that the 42 million people who are on SNAP across 
this Nation are of all colors, of all races. It can happen to any of 
us. It is not something that we should sit back and all of a sudden 
think that this couldn't happen to anyone. This could happen to our 
brothers and our sisters. And we are our brother's and sister's keeper. 
It is not something that we should just willy-nilly suddenly say to 
ourselves that we shouldn't worry about. Yet, the GOP not only failed 
them, they failed America last week.
  In addition, healthcare is one of the most important issues for our 
country, as seen by the mass rejection of the efforts by the GOP to 
repeal the Affordable Care Act last year.
  Think about this, Mr. Speaker. Healthcare. Everybody has the right to 
a healthy life, regardless of age, race, gender, or preexisting 
condition. Medical issues are personal matters. Whether it affects 
physical or mental health, it should not result in financial ruin. We 
all should know and recognize that it is clear that any of us can have 
a health episode. No one is above it. It is something that we should 
not take lightly.
  Mr. Speaker, we as the Congressional Black Caucus know and 
understand. And that is why we have fought so hard for healthcare. We 
have stressed over and over again that this, too, can happen to you.
  We understand that, with preexisting conditions and the challenges 
that we have in our community of high blood pressure, diabetes, and 
other types of diseases, this is something we should address. We should 
make sure that people know and can take advantage of a healthcare 
system that is open and available. We should not be bankrupting people, 
Mr. Speaker, on the issue of healthcare.
  Mr. Speaker, when the President and the GOP talk about family values, 
they seem to forget that when it comes down to the question of 
healthcare, that is something that we all should be ensuring everybody 
has. That is not a Democrat or Republican issue. That is an American 
issue. That is something right up there that we all should recognize 
that healthcare should be available to everyone. When we look at it and 
think about it, this is something we have to work for.

[[Page H5637]]

  There is no simple answer to dealing with the question of healthcare, 
but we do believe the Affordable Care Act is a great foundation. We 
believe that the Affordable Care Act basically laid a tone and a 
foundation for this entire country.
  As we all know, we have healthcare here in this House, in the United 
States Senate, and the President of the United States has healthcare. 
And that is provided for by the taxpayers of this country.
  So it is not something we should take lightly. It is something that 
we should all understand that health issues can affect us all. When you 
really think about it, in terms of getting a job, how can you do that 
if you are not healthy? How can you take care of your family if you are 
not healthy? How can you do anything if you are not healthy?
  This is something we believe is a family value and this is something 
that we all have said over and again. I believe healthcare is a 
fundamental right and not a privilege. No one should ever be afraid 
that taking care of their physical or mental health will cause 
financial hardship or be inaccessible to them for any reason.
  I want to repeat that again, Mr. Speaker. I believe that healthcare 
is a fundamental right and not a privilege. No one should ever be 
afraid that taking care of their physical or mental health will cause 
financial hardship or be inaccessible to them for any reason at all. We 
need to think about that. We need to carefully think about exactly what 
that means.
  When we talk about it in this day and age of family values, what is 
more important to a family than the health of the breadwinner, male or 
female? What is important to someone who is looking for an opportunity 
and they are prepared to go on that job?
  It is very important, Mr. Speaker, that under the Affordable Care Act 
it allowed people to stay on their parent's healthcare until age 26. 
Also, the part about preexisting conditions. Don't take that lightly, 
Mr. Speaker. That is something that we all could be affected by.
  It seems to me that over and over again in this House we seem to 
neglect to think about the conditions that we all face. Mr. Speaker, in 
healthcare, we have those moments where it can be with anyone and any 
condition they could be under. It is something that we should really 
understand and recognize. It is something that we shouldn't take 
lightly.
  Healthcare is, to me, the most essential issue we face today. It is 
something that we all should be fighting for, no matter what party we 
come from, no matter what part of the country we come from. We should 
all understand what it means.
  I will continue to be a voice for the voiceless to ensure adequate 
healthcare for all. That is something I believe is extremely essential, 
Mr. Speaker.
  When I thought about giving these words, I basicall said, again, we 
are going to speak about the lack of family values demonstrated by the 
Trump administration. The Trump administration and the GOP talk about 
family values a lot. How can you talk about family values when you want 
to eliminate the SNAP program? How can you talk about family values 
when you want to reduce people's healthcare?

  You can't talk about family values when, in the very same breath, you 
are talking about destroying people's healthcare and access to food. 
There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I stress to you today that this is not a partisan 
issue. Feeding people and healthcare is not Democrat or Republican. It 
is not conservative or liberal. It is something that we all need to be 
concerned with. If we are talking about moving America forward, then we 
will move it forward when we bring others along. I stress this is 
something that we all should be concerned with.
  Turning to more hypocrisy from the party of family values, the Trump 
administration's unilateral decision to separate migrant children from 
their parents at the Southern border is just the latest example of the 
majority party refusing to practice what it preaches.
  Just think abut it. Migrant children. Migrant children. Migrant 
children. Migrant children. I said that four times. I said that four 
times because I think it hasn't gotten through.
  When you talk about separating children from their families, there is 
something wrong with that, Mr. Speaker. When you talk about using that 
for a political purpose and you talk about using them as an example of 
children and families, there is something wrong with that, Mr. Speaker. 
That is not the kind of America we want. We do not want an America 
where we are going to separate children and families. Children and 
families should be united. We should bring them together.
  Mr. Speaker, when we hear the statement that Democrats want to 
basically just let anybody in the country, we know that is just for 
political rhetoric. Remember, I said earlier, going back to when we 
passed this book out that says we have a lot to lose, we said, Mr. 
Speaker, in the very beginning of this book, that the election is over.
  I understand in 132 days there will be an election. Well, let the 
election speak for itself, Mr. Speaker. Let the results speak for 
themselves.
  But there is no way you can talk about separating families. There is 
no way you can talk about separating children. There is no way that 
2,300 to 2,500 children who are spread wherever they maybe, that is not 
the kind of America we want. That is not family values.
  So if you talk about reducing SNAP and you talk about reducing 
healthcare and you talk about separating families, there is something 
wrong with that, Mr. Speaker. There is something wrong when we are now 
at a point where we are separating families.
  Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of Members who have gone to the 
various borders and seen for themselves firsthand what is taking place. 
This is not the kind of America we want.
  For a party that professes to understand the importance of advancing 
policies that promote family values, we now have a preponderance of 
evidence to the contrary.
  I just ticked them off: SNAP, healthcare, and now separating 
families. If you take those three areas, there is something wrong with 
the context of talking about family values.
  It is clearly that whether it is an excessive punitive immigration 
policy, changes to the free lunch program eligibility, proposals to cut 
Supplemental Security Income, or the refusal to adopt comprehensive 
criminal justice reform, the Republican policy agenda deliberately 
targets families, especially those in underserved communities of color.
  Mr. Speaker, we are, in my view, in a very challenging time. We are 
probably, in my lifetime, in the most challenging time I have ever 
seen. This requires a different kind of leadership. It requires a 
leadership that puts America first. And in order to put America first, 
that means we must work together. We must work together on a farm bill 
that is bipartisan and that doesn't reduce SNAP. We must work to ensure 
healthcare is available. And we must be clear, Mr. Speaker, that we 
have an opportunity to make these things happen.
  So I stress to you with the things that I have just stressed, that 
clearly we have got a chance to do something about these things. These 
problems persist even in the wake of the administration's immigration 
policy reversal and the so-called executive order.
  Several members of the CBC have expressed concerns about the 
Republicans' inability to devise a coherent reunification plan for the 
children and parents separated by the President's misguided policy.
  An American crisis is happening right now in front of us. Children, 
from the toddlers at the border to Dreamers losing DACA to American-
born children of immigrant parents, have become the victims of Trump's 
America.

  Let me repeat that. An American crisis is happening right now in 
front of us. Children, from the toddlers at the border to Dreamers 
losing DACA to American-born children of immigrant parents, children 
have become victims in Trump's America. This is not what should be 
happening in America.
  Mr. Speaker, yes, we have our challenges, but the fact of the matter 
is that we need to work together. So as a member of the Congressional 
Black Caucus, I stand here, Mr. Speaker, saying to you that the 
Congressional

[[Page H5638]]

Black Caucus is ready to work together to make a difference.
  The practice of punishing parents who are trying to save their 
children's lives and punishing children for being brought to safety by 
their parents by separating them is fundamentally cruel and un-America. 
That should not be accepted, Mr. Speaker.
  For this next hour, we, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
are standing up to shine light on this situation.
  We are determined to make sure, Mr. Speaker, that people understand 
that this should no longer be acceptable; we should not continue to pit 
this section against that section; and that we all understand, when it 
is all said and done, that we are in this together. Although, as Dr. 
King said, we may have come over on different boats, we are in the same 
boat now. That is called America--an America that is inclusive.
  The Department of Homeland Security denied that they were breaking 
the sacred bond between parents and children until The New York Times 
reported that more than 700 children have been separated from their 
moms and their dads since October.
  Family unity is recognized as a fundamental human right enshrined in 
international law. The Trump administration's proposed action to 
separate immigrant families flies in the face of this law. It must 
stop. It must stop, Mr. Speaker. The practice of separating children 
from parents as a deterrent to seeking asylum is inhumane and cruel. 
Seeking asylum is not illegal. In fact, it is written into U.S. 
immigration law to ensure that those with a credible fear of 
persecution that they can present their case.

                              {time}  2045

  The American Academy of Pediatrics opposed DHS's proposal that would 
separate mothers from their children arriving at the border, saying 
that, in a time of anxiety and stress, children need to be with their 
parents, family members, and caregivers.
  I stand here tonight, on the 6-month anniversary of the tax bill. But 
before I speak on that, I have a colleague of mine from the great State 
of Texas. She has been in the forefront. I have watched her in the 
short period of time I have been here. When she speaks, there are many 
who listen to her.
  She is relentless. I have watched her be relentless, driven, 
purposeful, and focused. She is the great lady from the State of Texas. 
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas, Congresswoman 
Sheila Jackson Lee.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman 
from Pennsylvania. There is no one to whom he can take a back seat in 
terms of his freshman term for his engagement and involvement. He has 
made the most eloquent statements on the floor, which show his 
commitment to the people of this Nation and the people of his district.
  Tonight is certainly an example of that, as we have come to the floor 
to, really, speak about children. I hope that my friends and my 
colleagues will fully appreciate the fact that, as we speak about 
children, we are speaking about everyone's children.
  We are speaking about a young boy who was killed running away from 
law enforcement--not running toward, not creating a threat.
  We are thinking about children who need a better education or 
children who need to have a supplemental nutrition program or children 
who need to be safe from human trafficking. We are talking about 
children.
  Mr. Speaker, a week ago Monday and Sunday, I was in McAllen and 
Brownsville. I was in the detention centers with the tinsel, silver-
like blankets. I was in the cage-like atmosphere where human beings 
were kept, human beings, of course, who had fled their country and had 
come across the border.
  Some might make the point that they came across illegally, but they 
came across and presented themselves to officials. Heretofore, that 
action was not a criminal action.
  I saw those individuals. I saw the most potent memory of what is 
wrong about what we are doing: mothers who were crying their hearts out 
for having not been able to see their children, with stories that would 
break your heart, stories where you were told to go into court, your 
children could not go with you, and you came back and your children 
were gone.
  What father, what mother could even live with themselves, knowing 
their child had been snatched with no information and in a--how should 
I say it?--deceiving manner, not a manner where you could sit and 
explain to Jose or Maria or little Roger, whom I held in my hands, 9 
months old, fleeing with his sister because his mother is deceased.
  What do you think that sister feels? Her mother is deceased, and the 
9-month-old that she was bringing, her mother's baby, is taken away 
from her. And Roger cannot speak. One-year-old Leah cannot speak. None 
of them can speak, and they have been taken away.
  How dastardly, how insensitive our government appears to be. A Nation 
founded upon the values of humanity, freedom of religion and speech and 
due process. We all know the law provides anyone within our boundaries 
the right to due process.
  But, no. We are, in fact, doing what Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the 
diocese of Brownsville said: We are acting, by separating immigrant 
parents and children as a deterrent, on a cruel and reprehensible 
policy.
  Reverend Bishop Michael Curry said: For Christians, Jesus of Nazareth 
is a standard of conduct for your life. He tells us to love God and to 
love thy neighbor.
  I would say almost every religion speaks about love, speaks about 
family--not in the way that the United States Attorney General used and 
abused the New Testament, by citing Roman 13, to submit to rulers, to 
justify the child separation policy, before he was completely 
undermined and embarrassed by a fake executive order that was signed by 
the President of the United States.
  I say that because that term has become part of our language. I have 
never used it before, but it was an appropriate description of an 
executive order that will last for only 20 days and will not have any 
answer for us going forward.
  We don't have any legislation. Our legislation to solve this problem 
introduced by Mr. Nadler and the Judiciary Committee Democrats and all 
of us, welcoming anyone else who would like to sign, would get to the 
immediate concern of not having a separation of these children and, 
also, ending the zero-tolerance program, which has created this unjust 
situation.
  Let me indicate to you that all of the medical professionals, 
including Alicia Lieberman with the Early Trauma Treatment Network at 
the University of California said: Decades of studies show early 
separations can cause permanent emotional damage. ``Children are 
biologically programmed to grow best in the care of a parent figure.''
  Members who have visited have said they walked into rooms with 300 
children, and they were absolutely silent. They were frightened. 
Toddlers.
  Who among us who have had toddlers in their home, from our own 
children to those of us fortunate enough to have grandbabies, like 
mine--like Roy III and Ellison--have ever seem them sit still?
  These children were in total fear and apprehension. This is what we 
are creating. This is not the America we love.
  It is noted that the activity in the children's brains was much lower 
than expected. If you think of a brain as a light bulb, it is as though 
there was a dimmer that has reduced them from a 100-watt bulb to a 30-
watt bulb.
  This is what happens. Children who have been separated from their 
parents, in their first 2 years like little Roger, who is 9 months old, 
their IQ may go down.

  So we are on the floor today, and I am glad to be with Chairman 
Richmond of the Congressional Black Caucus. We believe in speaking out 
on the issues that impact all of humanity. And this is the sin that we 
are in the midst of.
  Do you realize that the only numbers that these children and parents 
are getting are the aid numbers? Someone says there is a number at 
Health and Human Services. None of us have seen it.
  I am demanding a full inventory of every single child that we allege 
that we have who was separated and snatched from their family members, 
who are in foster care or some detention center, as well as the 10,000 
unaccompanied children.

[[Page H5639]]

  Mr. Speaker, do you realize that I have been here long enough that I 
was down on the border 4 years ago when the massive numbers of 
unaccompanied children came to the United States? Then, we put these 
boys and girls, as unaccompanied children, in this vast industry of 
foster care and centers. They are still there.
  Can anyone who believes in a higher power want to accept that? Even 
as clean as these places may be, Mr. Speaker, do you know that these 
caretakers working in these nonprofits, that they cannot touch the 
children? They cannot hold the children. They cannot comfort a crying 
toddler. They are told not to touch these children.
  Do you realize that we are in one of the worst, or largest, refugee 
crises in the world. That is why we are receiving these people. It is 
going up 67 percent all over the world because people are fleeing 
devastation and crises in their countries. That is what is happening in 
Honduras, with the largest number of murders in the world. El Salvador. 
Guatemala has a million people displaced.
  Yet, our government would suggest that they cannot seek asylum for 
domestic violence or gangs or fleeing a place that has volcano ash that 
has displaced a million people in a small country? Where is our mercy?
  That is why we are on the floor today. We are on the floor today 
because of, as I indicated, the horrible, horrific impact on children.
  ``Reuniting and Detaining Migrant Families Pose New Mental Health 
Risks,'' says The New York Times.
  I want to just add these points to your discussion that we have 
faced.
  Some of these children, Mr. Speaker, are in foster care. We know that 
there are American children in foster care. We know that there are 
families who are trying to get back on their feet. They want their 
children. There is a love for those children. But they have had to be 
moved out.
  The worst thing--I have had these calls to my office--is a mother's 
parental rights to be extinguished unfairly when she was trying to get 
herself together, maybe economically, maybe trying to get off drugs. We 
feel the pain of that mother, that American mother.
  How would you like to be a Guatemalan mother--this happened in 2012--
who was arrested on immigration charges and lost custody of her son, 
who was then adopted by a Missouri couple over her objection. The judge 
who initially terminated the mother's parental rights found that, 
should she be deported, the chance that she might try to return to get 
her child would render her an unfit parent.
  I feel like I am in a nightmare. Your child is snatched away from you 
at the border. They go into foster care. Some good-intending people--I 
don't want to condemn the adoptive parents, good-intending people.
  I don't know who gave them the authority that this was an available 
child. These children are in foster care around the Nation. They are 
everywhere. We don't know which way they are, to be honest with you.
  They get in foster care and some--maybe I'll say--well-intentioned 
foster care notifies someone and said: ``We have a child for you to 
adopt.'' And your rights are quashed.
  I am feeling pain right now. I can't even imagine it: I have fallen 
upon hard times. My State children's protective services takes my 
child. I make a commitment to get my life back together, and my child 
is lost to me forever.
  This is an amazing scenario that we are in. I want to read this last 
thing and then speak very quickly about our family values.
  This is from an immigrant mother: My child was snatched from me and 
separated from me one day after I was arrested.
  Again, I want to end the arrests, the zero tolerance. They are 
presenting themselves for asylum. They should have the right to go 
through the legal process. Then they should have the right to counsel, 
due process. And they should have the right to be able to be released.

  Now, there will be a great deal of ire and humor for some on this 
point. That is because they don't understand. We had a case management 
program that was 90-plus percent positive on the return of those 
individuals, those families, for their court date. This administration 
defunded it.
  It was a case management program. They followed those families, put 
them on the electronic bracelet, and they returned. They did not 
escape. They did not remain in the United States without coming to 
court and getting a determination.
  So this mother was separated. This is a court case, thank goodness, 
that was filed on June 22: ``I have been able to speak to my child only 
three times and only for approximately 5 minutes each time since we 
were separated. My son isn't able to give me much information about his 
circumstances because he is too young and too upset to understand what 
is happening.''
  She doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know where she is.
  ``Every time we talk, he only wants to know when he will see me 
again, so it is hard for him to focus on anything else.''
  Just like I said, we are diminishing his capacity. We are creating a 
situation of undermining his intellectual growth, his psychological 
growth, all of this.
  ``There have been a few times he said that he had a nosebleed. I told 
him to tell someone if he is feeling sick, but he is too scared to tell 
anyone.''
  That is why you went into a room of toddlers and nobody was moving. 
Nobody was moving. No toddler was even moving.
  ``He says that he is scared to report any type of mistreatment or 
health issue because the other children have told him that children who 
report things get sent to another place.''
  I have legislation that I am introducing, and I hope my colleagues, 
Republicans and Democrats, will extend the temporary protected status 
for Salvadorans, Hondurans, and, as well, Guatemalans. We want to give 
them TPS on the basis of the volcano.

                              {time}  2100

  Why? Because this administration has ended it. It will end in 2019. 
These people are fleeing violence, and you will be sending those here 
who are working, contributing, and paying taxes--before we can try to 
regularize or find a way for them to access status--you will be sending 
them back to murderous countries in the largest crisis of refugee 
movement in the history of our time. You will be sending them back. 
Where is our mercy?
  Then you want to add to that the fact that we have an administration 
and a Congress that is making changes to school free lunches. These are 
for our children already here.
  Making eligibility proposed cuts to Supplemental Security Income, 
SSI, many children, that is their lifeline. If something happens to 
their parent, they have SSI.
  The refusal to adopt comprehensive criminal justice reform, I am a 
steadfast supporter of good law enforcement. They are part of the legal 
and law and order structure, but they are also part of the human rights 
and civil rights structure of this Nation. It is important that we have 
the collegiality, the comity, the communications, and the friendship, 
actually, between police and community.
  It is difficult when there are mothers who are African Americans who 
believe that their Black boys are more apt to be shot by law 
enforcement, as a young man was just shot a few days ago in 
Pennsylvania. This is not a condemnation of law enforcement. It is to 
work to make the system better and to save lives.
  So we are interested in criminal justice reform. But, of course, that 
is not moving in the direction we would like. I would like it to be 
moving in a nonpartisan manner to save lives.
  The GOP chose to cut $150 billion over a decade from various safety 
net programs: Medicare; cash assistance programs, like Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families; again, as I said, SSI; and healthcare.
  Republicans are suing the government to eliminate the preexisting 
condition requirement for insurance carriers. I am almost speechless. I 
cannot believe that. I was here for the Affordable Care Act. We laid 
ourselves on the line to fight for all of those who came to us in 
hearings, pleading: I have asthma. I have acne. I am pregnant. I have 
diabetes. I have sickle cell. And I have not been able to get 
insurance.
  Here we are taking away that lifeline that was a valuable asset to 
the healthcare of the American people.

[[Page H5640]]

  The farm bill, cutting $23 billion that resulted in 400,000 
households losing SNAP--our children, here in the United States--the 
supplemental nutrition program, thousands of children losing reduced 
meals.
  Do you know, right now, Mr. Speaker, out of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, my Houston parks department is serving three meals a day 
to children who would not eat but for this program of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture--three meals a day to hungry children. There 
is hunger in America, but we are making it worse.
  What about the $1.9 trillion tax cut? Do you realize that I go around 
in my community and beyond and people ask me: ``What happened with the 
tax cut?'' They don't have any impact from the tax cut. There is no 
increase in wages. Bonuses are not anything that anybody remembers 
because only a few people got them. This is the pay-more-for-less tax 
cut, massive tax cuts and a lot of money going to individuals who 
already have money. This is Robin Hood in reverse.
  This bill is unprecedented and breathtaking in its audacity. It is 
making rich people richer. It is a scheme. And by taking insurance away 
from 24 million people, raising costs for the poor and middle class, 
these are questions of whether family values exist in this Nation.
  As Judge Learned Hand observed: ``If we are to keep our democracy, 
there must be one commandment: Thou shalt not ration justice.''
  So I would ask that my colleagues join me, as I asked in the Women's 
Caucus hearing just a few minutes ago, that we secure a count of every 
single child held in captivity. That means an immigrant child who was 
snatched away from their family or an unaccompanied child. There are 
thousands. Where are they?
  I would also ask that Members be aware that these facilities are 
being brought into our districts with no notice to us as Members of 
Congress. These facilities are being paid for by Federal tax dollars, 
and the tax dollars of my constituents, in particular, in Houston, 
Texas. They have given no notice to local officials. We were not even 
aware that they were coming.
  The site that is about to be seeking to be opened is in a concrete 
area. It is very difficult for any of us to see where these children 
would play and recreate. So we wonder: How we are going to treat 
children who are going to be thrown into these facilities with no 
access to what children need?
  Then this ending of the temporary protected status, I ask my 
colleagues to join me on the legislation that I will be introducing for 
a 2-year extension, so that these individuals are not thrown into the 
devastation that will make them refugees, because they will be coming 
back, and they are now contributing citizens.
  What do you do with a country that has a million people displaced, 
like in Guatemala? What do you do when we say that we are supposed to 
have values, and not only are we treating parents who are deeply 
pained--poorly, reprehensibly, and inhumane--by snatching their 
children, or not seeking to reunite those children who came 
unaccompanied? When I say that, obviously, not reunite them into a bad 
situation, but document--they are just being held in these 
institutions, 10,000 of them. They are just being held.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for being particularly gracious 
and yielding.
  I want to have paid tribute in my words to little Roger in 
Brownsville, Texas, and little Leah in Brownsville, Texas, a 9-month-
old and a 1-year-old. Even if they go to foster care, that is not their 
relative or their parent. Which of their parents will have 
their parental rights extinguished against their will and, 
unfortunately, have one of our courts say it is a right decision? Which 
of these people will be denied due process, because we have words from 
this administration that say: I want no lawyers or courts. I want 
Border Patrol and ICE?

  Those are not judges and juries. That is not a component of due 
process. Law enforcement has its role, and then the judiciary has its 
role, and the rights of these individuals warrant that.
  Mr. Speaker, I close with Ephesians 4:30-32: ``Be kind to one 
another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ 
also has forgiven you.''
  And Galatians 5:22-23: ``But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-
control; against such things there is no law.''
  There could be no law against being humane to these children.
  I am grateful to the Congressman for his leadership in the 
Congressional Black Caucus. We are not only talking about domestic 
issues here in the United States, but we have extended ourselves to 
talk about the pain that is transpiring in these mothers and fathers 
right now, at 9:10 p.m. eastern time, in these detention centers, 
without their children.
  Mr. Speaker, over the last many weeks, the country has been horrified 
by the sights and sounds of children being separated from their 
parents, and Americans aghast at the realization that families are 
being torn apart in their name.
  When I visited the border and the federal detention facilities that 
housed parents and children quarantined from one another, what I 
witnessed was horrific and was echoed in heartbreaking audio recordings 
released by the press revealing children crying, aching for their 
parents, as all face a fate uncertain, and one inconsistent with the 
American ideal.
  I will never forget the little children I met during my visit to the 
border.
  One baby, 9-month-old Roger, had been taken from his 19-year-old 
sister after she was prosecuted for crossing the border illegally.
  Their mother is dead, now their family is gone.
  This crisis is not just an immigration matter, nor is it just a 
foreign policy matter. It is a humanitarian crisis, executed by an 
administration that purports to be the champion of ``family values'' 
but whose actions do not actually value families.
  But the President's attempt at attacking children and their 
caretakers is not one that only pertains to asylum seekers at the 
borders.
  For the entirety of his term, the President and his administration 
have relentlessly targeted communities of color and the programs they 
have previously benefitted from.
  This includes changes to school free lunch program eligibility, 
proposed cuts to Supplemental Security Income, the refusal to adopt 
comprehensive criminal justice reforms, one thing after another.
  Just last week, the GOP chose to cut $150 billion over a decade from 
various safety net programs which include Medicare and cash assistance 
programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental 
Security Income.
  And the House farm bill that Republicans passed, and which Democrats 
were unanimously in opposition to, will result in some 400,000 
households losing SNAP benefits.
  As well, thousands of children would also risk losing their 
enrollment in free and reduced-price school meal programs because of 
this.
  The President and GOP have promised for years now to create a plan to 
improve health insurance for everybody.
  But that promise has not been kept.
  By passing a nearly $1.9 trillion tax law and repealing the 
Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, Republicans will increase 
health care premiums on children and families.
  According to the CBO, 4 million more people will be without health 
insurance by 2019. By 2027, 13 million more people will be uninsured. 
Families' premiums will also increase by nearly 10 percent on average 
per year over the next decade.
  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly improved the 
availability, affordability, and quality of health care for tens of 
millions of Americans, including millions who previously had no health 
insurance at all.
  Americans are rightly frightened by Republican attempts to repeal the 
ACA without having in place a superior new plan that maintains 
comparable coverages and comparable consumer choices and protections.
  It is beyond dispute that the ``Pay More For Less'' plan proposed by 
House Republicans a few months ago fails this test miserably.
  The Republican ``Pay More For Less Act'' is a massive tax cut for the 
wealthy, paid for on the backs of America's most vulnerable, the poor 
and working class households.
  This ``Robin Hood in reverse'' bill is unprecedented and breathtaking 
in its audacity--no bill has ever tried to give so much to the rich 
while taking so much from the poor and working class.
  This Republican scheme gives gigantic tax cuts to the rich, and pays 
for it by taking insurance away from 24 million people and raising 
costs for the poor and middle class.
  It is despicable and shameful that those elected to serve their 
people would rather see their pockets full than their constituents 
healthy and well.
  An Administration that cared about ``family values'' would not be 
working so hard to repeal a healthcare program that has insured

[[Page H5641]]

nine out of ten Americans and saved families with genetic diseases and 
pre-existing conditions thousands of dollars in debt.
  In 1968, African Americans were about 5.4 times as likely as whites 
to be in prison or jail; compared to today, African Americans are 6.4 
times as likely as whites to be incarcerated, which is especially 
troubling given that whites are also much more likely to be 
incarcerated now than they were in 1968.
  It is clear the inequalities and disparities that ignited hundreds of 
American cities in the 1960s still exist and have not been eliminated 
over the last half-century.
  As Judge Learned Hand observed, ``If we are to keep our democracy, 
there must be one commandment: thou shalt not ration justice.''
  Reforming the criminal justice system so that it is fairer and 
delivers equal justice to all persons is one of the great moral 
imperatives of our time.
  For reform to be truly meaningful, we must look at every stage at 
which our citizens interact with the system--from policing in our 
communities and the first encounter with law enforcement, to the 
charging and manner of attaining a conviction, from the sentence 
imposed to reentry and collateral consequences.
  The need for meaningful prison and sentencing reform cannot be 
overstated because being the world's leader in incarceration is neither 
morally nor fiscally sustainable for the United States, or the federal 
government, the nation's largest jailer.
  For individuals who have paid their debt, the reentry process is 
paved with tremendous, and often insurmountable, obstacles resulting in 
recidivism rates as high as 75 percent in some areas.
  More must be done to ensure that the emphasis on incarceration is 
matched with an equal emphasis on successful reentry so that the 
approximately 630,000 individuals who reenter society each year are 
prepared to be successful in civilian life.
  This is why I have also strongly supported and cosponsored 
legislation that will allow those with a criminal conviction to have a 
fair chance to compete for jobs with federal agencies and contractors.
  I have also been working for many years to stop the over-
criminalization of our young people.
  Today, more and more young children are being arrested, incarcerated, 
and detained in lengthy out-of-home placements.
  Harsh and lengthy penalties handed down to young offenders increase 
their risk of becoming physically abused, emotionally traumatized, and 
reduce their chance of being successfully reintegrated back into their 
communities.
  I have introduced and supported legislation to help reform how youth 
and juveniles are treated to reduce contact and recidivism within the 
juvenile and criminal justice system; to help protect them from a 
system that turns them into lifelong offenders.
  Just as we need to minimize the conviction of innocent people, we 
must address the unnecessary loss of life that can result from police 
and civilian interactions.
  Effective law enforcement requires the confidence of the community 
that the law will be enforced impartially and equally.
  That confidence has been eroded substantially in recent years by 
numerous instances of excessive use of lethal force.
  There is no higher priority than improving the peacefulness of these 
interactions and rebuilding the trust between law enforcement and the 
communities they serve and protect.
  At what point will Republicans step away from the tyrant of their 
party and make changes that will actually benefit the communities they 
represent, to stop fighting the disenfranchised and instead fight FOR 
the disenfranchised?
  Now more than ever, the Trump Administration and the GOP have shown 
how inhumane they are when it comes to dealing with marginalized 
individuals.
  This has become crystal clear in the span of two weeks when the 
public was finally made aware of the policies in place at our Southern 
borders.
  While the President purported to end the practice of separating 
families with his Executive Order signed on Wednesday, thousands of 
children have been torn apart from their families and sent to various 
pockets of the country, often under cover of night, without any 
indication to their parents as to their whereabouts, or a plan to 
reunite them.
  In my home state of Texas, a migrant who was separated from his 
family committed suicide while in federal detention.
  A mother who, while breastfeeding her young child when both were in 
federal detention, had her child ripped away from her arms.
  This cannot be how we make America great again; this is how we make 
America hateful again.
  The Trump Administration is utterly failing in its basic duty to 
treat all persons with dignity and compassion, and is making a mockery 
of our national values and reputation as a champion of human rights.
  We are a great country with a long and noble tradition of providing 
sanctuary to the persecuted and oppressed.
  We are also a nation of families, from all shapes and sizes.
  From the 16-year-old girl and her single mom who desperately depend 
on the benefits SNAP provides.
  To the 19-year-old girl who must now become the sole guardian for her 
baby brother, in a country she prays will offer her peace and refuge 
(and return her brother to her).
  It is in that spirit that we should act.
  It is for them that we must all stand together in the face of 
injustice.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a copy of an Op-Ed entitled ``We 
Must Cease the Inhumane Practice of Separating Families Apprehended on 
the Border'' in The Hill newspaper.

We must cease the inhumane practice of separating families apprehended 
                             on the border

                     [From The Hill, June 12, 2018]

      (BY REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TEXAS), OPINION CONTRIBUTOR)

       Every day hundreds of persons, ranging from infants and 
     toddlers to adolescents and adults, flee violence, 
     oppression, and economic desperation from Guatemala, Honduras 
     and El Salvador, seeking safe harbor in the United States. 
     They are not criminals or terrorists; they are refugees 
     seeking asylum. While they hope to receive asylum, none of us 
     expected that they would be treated as criminals or that 
     their children would be forcibly separated from them. I 
     cannot think of a situation more devastating than having the 
     government forcibly separate a parent from their child to a 
     place unknown, for a fate uncertain, absent any form of 
     communication. But shamefully that is exactly what is 
     happening under this administration.
       Reports indicate that as many as 700 children have been 
     taken from adults claiming to be their parents since October 
     2017, including more than 100 children under the age of 4. 
     This startling fact comes after Acting Assistant Secretary 
     Steven Wagner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
     Services (HHS) testified before the Senate in April 2018 that 
     during a review of more than 7,600 unaccompanied immigrant 
     children who had recently arrived and been placed with a 
     sponsor, officials at the agency were unable to determine the 
     precise whereabouts of 1,475 children.
       This is unconscionable and unacceptable.
       This administration's practice of separating children from 
     their parents inexplicably turns accompanied children into 
     unaccompanied children, with all of the attendant risks and 
     dangers, including human trafficking. In 2014, the Permanent 
     Subcommittee on Investigations reported that ``over a period 
     of 4 months, HHS allegedly placed a number of UACs in the 
     hands of a ring of human traffickers who forced them to work 
     on egg farms in and around Marion, Ohio. The minor victims 
     were forced to work six or seven days a week, twelve hours 
     per day. The traffickers repeatedly threatened the victims 
     and their families with physical harm, and even death, if 
     they did not work or surrender their entire paychecks.''
       What is even more reprehensible is to this day, the Trump 
     administration maintains that the Office of Refugee 
     Resettlement (ORR) is not legally responsible for children 
     after they are released from ORR care. This line of thinking 
     allows such gross negligence to take place in the first 
     place. As the Founder and Chair of the Congressional 
     Children's Caucus and as a parent and grandparent, this is 
     unacceptable.
       Studies have documented that when young children are 
     traumatically removed from their parents, their physical and 
     mental health and well-being suffers. The effects of these 
     traumatic experiences--especially in children who have 
     already faced serious adversity are unlikely to be short-
     lived, and can likely last a lifetime. This is exacerbated 
     when the child in custody speaks a language that is not 
     English or Spanish. Although the government has a legal 
     obligation to provide reasonable language services to 
     unaccompanied minors, many children arriving to the U.S. 
     speak indigenous languages and have little or no translation 
     assistance provided by the U.S. government.
       The Trump administration's ``zero-tolerance'' policy does 
     not make our nation safer or more secure, nor is it a 
     solution to the problem of illegal immigration and refugees 
     seeking asylum. It is, however, monstrously cruel, inhumane, 
     and shameful and makes a mockery of America's reputation as 
     the most welcoming and generous nation on earth.
       United Nations Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani 
     recently condemned the Trump administration's treatment of 
     unaccompanied minors coming to the United States saying that 
     ``the use of immigration detention and family separation as a 
     deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and 
     principles''.
       The last time this nation had policies that promoted the 
     forcible separation of children from newly arrived persons 
     was slavery: a dark chapter in this nation's history that we 
     should not revisit. Today, the parents of these thousands of 
     children will not be deterred from finding ways to reunite 
     with their children, even reentering the United States under 
     the threat of imprisonment. It

[[Page H5642]]

     would be unconscionable to prosecute parents under these 
     circumstances. There must be strong and aggressive 
     congressional oversight of this administration's immigration 
     enforcement.
       The Trump administration's policy should cease and desist 
     immediately. National Policy regarding immigration 
     legislation should not create greater fear for families 
     already traumatized by intolerable conditions in their home 
     countries. U.S. immigration policy should not deter refugees 
     from seeking asylum within our borders. We should welcome 
     mothers carrying their babies to a safe haven and assure the 
     safety of their children.
       I will soon be introducing legislation prohibiting the 
     separation of children from their families absent a health or 
     safety risk. The legislation will also provide that these 
     children the right to be represented by counsel and that 
     translation services be available at all legal proceedings at 
     all stages.
       As we have seen with the recent volcanic activity and 
     earthquakes in Guatemala, the United States should be seeking 
     ways to help its neighbors in the Southern Hemisphere. The 
     Trump administration is utterly failing in its basic duty to 
     treat all persons with dignity and compassion. Rather, it is 
     making a mockery of our national values and reputation as a 
     champion of human rights.
       This crisis is not just an immigration matter, nor is it 
     just a foreign policy matter. It is a humanitarian crisis, 
     executed by an administration that purports to be the 
     champion of `family values' but whose actions do not actually 
     value families.
       We are a great country with a long and noble tradition of 
     providing sanctuary to the persecuted and oppressed. And it 
     is in that spirit that we should act. We can do it; after 
     all, we are Americans.

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, can you tell me how much time I have 
remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fitzpatrick). The gentleman from 
Pennsylvania has 1\3/4\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask one quick question then.
  Ms. Jackson Lee has visited some of these locations. Can she 
describe--because I haven't been there, or maybe for people who 
haven't--exactly what is going on in those centers.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is a painful experience, as I 
indicated. Toddlers don't speak. They are standing still, as has been 
evidenced by Members who have gone. I saw two little babies. Leah, a 
little older, fussy, playing on the floor, didn't want anyone to touch 
her. And Roger wanted someone to touch him. Mothers in cages, other 
mothers in a detention center in Los Fresno, nine of them from 
Honduras, each and every one had a child taken, and they were crying.
  But the crux of this is that they don't know where the child is, and 
the child does not know where they are. These centers are being put up. 
One that already exists in my community has been charged with abusing 
children: throwing them down on the floor and giving them medication 
that they do not want; in essence, giving them medication to keep them 
quiet.
  I know there are good people--everyone wants to talk about good 
people in their own State--but these are inhumane conditions. The 
greatest pain that I can say that you would see is men and women who 
are on the verge of deportation, they don't know what is happening, but 
they don't have their children. They are going back without their 
children.
  Then you also see these large warehouses with thousands of little 
kids from 10 to 17, but they have been there for a while. They are 
unaccompanied children, and we have no accounting of these children.
  That is what we are seeing. That is, I think, a shame on this 
government, and we can do better. We have been a refuge for refugees. 
There is a way to orderly do this.
  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I want to end with that comment by the great 
gentlewoman from the State of Texas on Chairman Richmond's leadership 
of the Congressional Black Caucus. There is no better way to end than 
that comment.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, House Republicans 
continue to profess that ``family values'' form the bedrock of their 
decision making. Yet, time and time again there is action being taken 
to the contrary. We have seen that the same ``family values'' that 
Republicans claim to have are not evident in the debates here on the 
floor, the legislation brought forth, and ultimately what is voted on 
in Congress.
  Whether the topic is food nutrition for our children, Supplemental 
Security Income benefits for older Americans, or immigration policies, 
the average American family does not stand to benefit from many of the 
proposals considered by my Republican colleagues. Even when it comes 
down to the physical well-being of our citizens, Republicans have shown 
through their actions that they value profits more than lowering the 
cost of health care for millions of Americans. In fact, the recent 
corporate tax bill passed by the Republican party is have directly 
associated with a 15% spike in premiums at the expense of middle- and 
working-class Americans. The nonpartisan CBO also reported that another 
3 million will be pushed off their coverage altogether.
  I have even greater concerns as to how House Republicans are 
strengthening families while the GOP Farm Bill that passed last week 
will kick at least 2 million people off food stamps, and cut total food 
stamp benefits by more than $23 billion. Meanwhile, Republicans refused 
to include limits on subsidies provided for crop insurance--one of the 
few federal programs without eligibility caps or payment limits. 
Moreover, Supplemental Security Income is truly a provider of last 
resort and is vital for those who depend on it, yet my colleagues 
continue to impose devastating cuts to a program that benefits our most 
vulnerable. On the immigration front, Republicans are unwilling to 
allow migrant families to remain together and are instead separating 
them at our southern border.
  Mr. Speaker, these are just a few examples of how what we do here 
impacts millions of families all across the country. I believe many of 
my colleagues will agree with me that strong families form the 
foundation of a strong nation. Any decision on policy, whether economic 
or social, should be made to the overall benefit of the everyday 
American family. However, we must be extremely careful not to do so at 
the expense of millions of middle and lower class Americans who are 
already struggling to get by.

                          ____________________