[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 126 (Thursday, July 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER

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                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2018

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the 
thousands of immigrant families who have been torn apart at our 
nation's border.
   The United States is a country of immigrants with a proud legacy of 
protecting families fleeing violence and persecution. As a nation, we 
are a voice for human rights, which is why I was deeply disturbed when 
news broke that the Trump Administration was ripping innocent children 
from their parents as their families sought asylum in the United 
States. I was alarmed when I heard about President Trump's criminal 
prosecution of all those seeking shelter within our borders.
   Last weekend, I went to the border with some of my colleagues to see 
for myself the impact of President Trump's ``zero tolerance'' policy. 
After seeing detention centers where children are still separated from 
their parents, after witnessing the immigration courts where asylum 
seekers are prosecuted en masse, after seeing the inhumane conditions 
that families are being held in at processing facilities, I can only 
report that this President's anti-family immigration policy is a 
disaster.
   Mr. Speaker, there is a humanitarian crisis happening right in our 
own backyard.
  At one detention facility, my colleagues and I met a grandmother who 
had brought her grandchildren to the United States, fleeing violence in 
her home country. They traveled across the Rio Grande by boat and she 
lost one of her grandchildren on the way. When she reached our shores, 
she thought she would find refuge, but her remaining grandchildren were 
taken from her and put into a separate detention facility.
   After weeks in detention, they still have not been reunited because 
the process this Administration has put in place only recognizes 
parents and their children, not grandparents, siblings or relatives as 
part of the family unit. She told us her story in tears. As someone who 
grew up close to their grandmother, I can only imagine the pain that 
she and her grandchildren must feel being separated--after traveling 
through such horrendous conditions to reach America. In our privilege, 
it's hard to imagine what conditions this family must have been living 
in to take that dangerous journey to our shores.
   My colleagues and I also visited a federal courthouse in McAllen, 
Texas, where we observed court proceedings for detained immigrants who 
were seeking asylum in the United States, fleeing violence in their 
home countries. Instead of recognizing their right of asylum, the court 
processed these immigrants en masse. These immigrants also pled guilty 
en masse, setting them on a course to be deported back to the countries 
they had fled because of violence. So far, over 400 immigrant parents 
have been deported without their children! How will they find their way 
home?
   We met with border patrol officers who told us that their jobs have 
been complicated by the actions of the Trump Administration. Mr. 
Speaker, we need to support the law enforcement officers who keep our 
country safe, but this Administration's ``zero tolerance'' policy has 
failed them, creating a logistical and human rights nightmare that they 
do not have the support to solve.
   This is why I am an original co-sponsor of the Keeping Families 
Together Act and the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which 
provides standards for facilities at which aliens in the custody of the 
Department of Homeland Security are detained. Additionally, I have 
cosponsored the Family Unit Right and Protective Act, which requires 
the reunification of families separated upon entry into the United 
States because of the ``zero tolerance'' immigration policy requiring 
criminal prosecution of all adults apprehended crossing the border 
illegally.
   The children who have crossed our borders are looking for safety 
from violence. Instead, they have found cold cages, and concrete floors 
with aluminum blankets. For many of the families seeking asylum in the 
United States, crossing the border is the difference between life and 
death. However, when these families cross our nation's border, we are 
not a welcoming safe haven in a time of crisis. Instead, we are 
criminally prosecuting families seeking safe refuge, separating 
children from parents, and scattering the children across our nation.
   As a country that was built by immigrants, it is disgraceful how we 
are treating immigrants at our own border. Therefore, I am urging my 
colleagues to cosponsor and support the Keeping Families Together Act 
and the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act. As the global leader in 
the fight to protect human rights, the United States can and must do 
better when it comes to the treatment of asylum seekers.

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