[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 109 (Thursday, June 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4610-S4612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I come to the floor once again to speak 
about a humanitarian crisis that is not taking place in Yemen or in 
Syria or in any foreign country but, rather, right here at the southern 
border of the United States.
  They say a picture speaks a thousand words, but I think it is even 
more than that. Photographs have the power to cut through noise, speak 
the truth, and invoke action.
  We all remember the heartbreaking image of a little boy who was 
covered in ash while he sat in an ambulance in Syria. It told us all we 
needed to know about acts of mass murder committed by Bashar al-Assad. 
Likewise, we remember the look in the eyes of the malnourished girl who 
was on the brink of death in Yemen--one of more than 85,000 children to 
have succumbed to hunger during Saudi Arabia's disastrous bombing 
campaign. Yet the photo I have brought to the floor today has shaken me 
to the core as a father, as a grandfather, as a son of immigrants, and 
above all else, as an America.
  Like the other photographs I mentioned, this one tells a story too. 
This one speaks an ugly truth, and that truth is that President Trump's 
cruel, inhumane, and un-American border policies have failed. They have 
failed to make us safer. They have failed to reduce migration to our 
border. They have also failed to live up to the American values that 
define our leadership around the world.
  We will never forget this heartbreaking photo. More importantly, we 
will not forget the names of Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 23-month-
old daughter, Valeria. They drowned in a desperate attempt to claim 
asylum in the United States.
  Oscar, Valeria, and Tania, her mother, fled El Salvador in the hopes 
of seeking asylum in the United States.
  The Washington Post reported:

       They traveled more than 1,000 miles seeking it. . . . But 
     the farthest the family got was an international bridge in 
     Matamoros, Mexico. On Sunday, they were told the bridge was 
     closed and that they should return Monday. Aid workers told 
     The Post the line to get across the bridge was hundreds long.
       The young family was desperate. Standing on the Mexican 
     side of the Rio Grande, America looked within reach. Martinez 
     and Valeria waded in. But before they all made it to the 
     other side, the river waters pulled the 25-year-old and his 
     daughter under and swept them away.

  Later, when Mexican authorities recovered their bodies, Oscar and 
Valeria were still clinging to each other.
  Here in the United States, it is hard to imagine what kind of 
desperate conditions would propel you to flee your home and embark on a 
perilous journey in search of protection from a foreign nation.
  Most of these families who arrive at our border come from Guatemala, 
El Salvador, and Honduras--three countries that are collectively known 
as the Northern Triangle. It is a region that is plagued by 
transnational gang violence, weak institutions, and poverty. Young boys 
are forced into servitude by gangs. Young girls are beaten and raped if 
they refuse to become their girlfriends. Parents who try to protect 
their children end up getting killed. These countries are among the 
most dangerous in the world. In El Salvador, a woman is murdered every 
19 hours, and in Honduras--the country with the highest homicide rate 
in the world for women--a woman is killed every 16 hours.
  To be blunt, these families face an impossible choice. It is either 
stay and die or flee for a chance to live.
  Well, if this horrific and tragic photograph does anything, I hope it 
dispels us of the ludicrous notion that you can deter desperate 
families from fleeing their homes in search of safety. That is how the 
Trump administration describes its cruel policies at the border--
deterrence.
  In the name of deterrence, it is tearing children and babies away 
from their mothers and fathers. In the name of deterrence, it is 
shutting down legitimate ports of entry, effectively encouraging 
migrant families to seek more dangerous methods of getting into the 
United States, like crossing the Rio Grande. In the name of deterrence, 
children are being housed in unsanitary conditions, which leaves 
infants in dirty diapers and children without soap or toothpaste.

  Let me share with our colleagues just a few of the statements that 
the children who have been kept in these abhorrent conditions have 
made.
  Said one 8-year-old boy:

       They took us away from our grandmother, and now we are all 
     alone. They have not

[[Page S4611]]

     given us to our mother. We have been here for a long time. I 
     have to take care of my little sister. She is very sad 
     because she misses our mother and grandmother very much. . . 
     . We sleep on a cement bench. There are two mats in the room, 
     but the big kids sleep on the mats, so we have to sleep on 
     the cement bench.

  Consider the words of a 16-year-old girl:

       We slept on mats on the floor, and they gave us aluminum 
     blankets. They took our baby's diapers, baby formula, and all 
     of our belongings. Our clothes were still wet, and we were 
     very cold, so we got sick. . . . I have been in the U.S. for 
     6 days, and I have never been offered a shower or been able 
     to brush my teeth. There is no soap, and our clothes are 
     dirty. They have never been washed.

  Finally, here are the words of a 17-year-old mother:

       I was given a blanket and a mattress, but then, at 3 a.m., 
     the guards took the blanket and mattress. My baby was left 
     sleeping on the floor. In fact, almost every night, the 
     guards wake us at 3 a.m. and take away our sleeping 
     mattresses and blankets. . . . They leave babies, even little 
     babies of 2 or 3 months, sleeping on the cold floor. For me, 
     because I am so pregnant, sleeping on the floor is very 
     painful for my back and hips. I think the guards act this way 
     to punish us.

  This is not the America I know. Yet this administration wants us to 
forget who we are. This administration wants us to believe that if the 
Government of the United States is cruel enough, that if it denies 
those who seek asylum all semblances of humanity, that if we ignore 
basic standards of child welfare, and that if we abandon fundamental 
American values like respect for human rights, then desperate families 
who flee Central America will stop coming here.
  It is not true. The entire doctrine of deterrence is grounded in 
hideous lies, beginning with the lie the President has fed the people 
from the moment he launched his campaign in 2015--the lie that 
immigrants are a threat to our security. President Trump has cast 
immigrants as criminals and rapists and drug dealers when the truth is 
that these migrants are the ones who are fleeing the criminals, the 
rapists, and the drug dealers.
  I am sick and tired of these lies, like when the President repeatedly 
says he inherited the policy of family separation from the Obama 
administration. That is a lie. The Trump administration masterminded 
this despicable policy, pure and simple.
  These cruel policies are not working. They have done nothing to stem 
the tide of families who seek asylum in the United States. They have 
done nothing to stabilize Central America and to alleviate the 
conditions that force families to seek refuge here.
  It is time to turn the page. There are so many alternatives to 
detention that are available to the DHS that are far more humane and 
far less costly to the taxpayers.
  Consider the Obama administration's pilot program known as the family 
case management system. It established procedures to treat migrant 
families humanely as their cases moved forward. Pregnant women, nursing 
mothers, or mothers with young children were given caseworkers who 
helped to educate them on their rights and their responsibilities. They 
were connected to community resources or to family in the country who 
could help them.
  According to an inspector general's report, the program was an 
enormous success. It had a compliance rate of 99 percent. That means 
that 99 percent of the time, families in the program showed up for 
their ICE check-ins and appointments. Likewise, they showed up 100 
percent of the time for their immigration court hearings. Tell me--how 
many government programs work 100 percent of the time? It is very rare. 
This one did, but that didn't stop President Trump from terminating it. 
Even though it had a 99-percent compliance and check-in rate and had 
100 percent who showed up for their hearings, oh, no. Evidently, that 
was not good enough for the Trump administration, for it was far more 
humane and far less costly to the taxpayers.
  Beyond embracing alternatives to mass detention, we must ramp up 
humanitarian assistance at the border. That is why I voted yesterday 
for the House's emergency supplemental bill, which would provide 
desperately needed support to on-the-ground organizations and would 
better ensure the humane treatment of children who are in CBP custody.
  The House bill included strong guardrails to prevent this White House 
from using these funds to pursue its draconian detention practices and 
mass deportation agenda. While the Senate bill fell short in these 
areas, I hope the administration uses whatever money it receives to 
ensure that the children are properly cared for--in a way that respects 
basic human rights.
  Solving this crisis will take more than humanitarian funding. If 
President Trump were serious about reducing migration, he would be 
working day and night to improve the conditions that are driving 
families to flee Central America in the first place. Instead, he has 
cut off aid to the Northern Triangle and has undermined critical U.S. 
efforts to work with Central American governments to crack down on gang 
violence, strengthen the rule of law, and alleviate poverty.
  These programs were working, and the Trump administration knows it. 
Why do I say that? In recent years, Congress has not only increased 
funding for foreign assistance to Central America, but it has required 
these governments to meet clear benchmarks in order to demonstrate 
their progress in areas like combating drug trafficking and 
strengthening their legal systems.
  The Trump administration has acknowledged the effectiveness of these 
programs on several occasions. In fact, it has sent Congress not one, 
not two, but nine different reports that have certified these 
benchmarks have been met.
  Here is just one of them that has been signed by Secretary of State 
Mike Pompeo:

       I hereby certify that the central government of El Salvador 
     is informing its citizens of the dangers of the journey to 
     the southwest border of the United States; combating human 
     smuggling and trafficking; improving border security, 
     including preventing illegal migration, human smuggling and 
     trafficking, and trafficking of illicit drugs and other 
     contraband; and cooperating with the United States Government 
     agencies and other governments in the region to facilitate 
     the return, repatriation, and reintegration of illegal 
     migrants arriving at the southwest border of the United 
     States who do not qualify for asylum consistent with 
     international law.

  This one is dated August 11, 2018. There are nine certifications by 
the Secretary of State saying that the programs we had going on and 
working in Central America were, in fact, working.
  But we all know this President has no respect for facts or evidence-
based reality. His decision to punish Central American governments for 
the migration crisis by slashing aid is only making the crisis worse. 
It absolutely makes no sense.
  If we want to reduce migration from Central America, we need a bold 
strategy to address the root causes driving families in fear from their 
home. That is why my colleagues and I have introduced the Central 
America Reform and Enforcement Act. Our bill would dramatically expand 
U.S. engagement in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala through proven 
programs that help strengthen the rule of law, combat violence, and 
build prosperity. Our bill would also minimize border crossings by 
expanding refugee processing centers in the region in an effort to 
reduce demand at the border, and, finally, it includes several measures 
to protect the welfare of children and ensure efficient, fair, and 
timely processing of asylum seekers.
  Now, this administration may wish the Northern Triangle's serious 
problems would just go away, but the longer we let these conditions 
fester, the greater this migration crisis will become.
  There is a very real possibility that President Trump views a growing 
crisis at the border as an asset in his path to reelection in 2020. The 
President believes his best shot at winning elections is to stoke fear 
of migrant children who pose no threat but desperately need the safe 
embrace of Lady Liberty.
  After all, President Trump cannot campaign on solving the student 
loan debt crisis or providing Americans with better, cheaper 
healthcare, or making sure that big corporations pay their fair share. 
He has failed on all these fronts and more. The only play left in the 
Trump playbook is to blame immigrants for America's problems instead of 
solving America's problems.
  That is what I call the politics of hate. The politics of hate is 
what led

[[Page S4612]]

President Trump to attempt to ban Muslims from traveling to the United 
States. The politics of hate is what led President Trump to end DACA 
and threaten 800,000 Dreamers with deportation to countries they have 
never called home--young people who through no choice of their own were 
brought to the United States, the only country they have ever pledged 
allegiance to is the United States and to the flag of the United 
States. The only national anthem they know is the Star Spangled Banner. 
The only place they have ever called home is America.
  The politics of hate is what led President Trump to attack TPS 
holders and jeopardize thousands of parents to American-born children. 
The politics of hate is what led the administration to forcibly 
separate nearly 2,800 children from their parents--and maybe thousands 
more, because they don't even have a recordkeeping system of where all 
of these children are. That is a policy that will forever be a stain on 
our history.
  The politics of hate is what led President Trump to tweet out his 
plan to send ICE agents into our communities to terrorize our towns and 
cities with mass arrests and mass deportations. It is a plan that would 
leave millions of U.S.-born American citizen children wondering: Why 
mom never came to pick me up at school or why dad never made it home 
for dinner. It is a plan that would inflict traumatic and irreparable 
harm on American children who would not only have to reckon with the 
loss of a parent but the loss of the income provided by that parent. 
The politics of hate led to the remain-in-Mexico policy, which forces 
asylum seekers to remain in Mexico amid dangerous conditions.
  Indeed, just yesterday, U.S. asylum officers requested that the 
courts block the Trump administration from requiring migrants to stay 
in Mexico, stating it is ``fundamentally contrary to the moral fabric 
of our Nation and our international domestic legal obligations.''
  Now, in the latest action, I fear it is the politics of hate that 
explain the awful press reports we heard today suggesting that 
President Trump plans to end a program that protects undocumented 
members of U.S. military families from deportation. Imagine that--
someone who wears the uniform of the United States, who may serve 
halfway around the world in service to the Nation, who risks their 
lives, and now you are going to take the one program that put their 
mind at ease--that their spouse or child, who may be undocumented in 
the country and had the ability to stay because of that servicemember's 
service, and now you are going to say you are going to deport their 
children, their spouse.
  Well, if someone is willing to wear the uniform of the United States, 
pledge allegiance to our flag, and risk their life to defend this 
Nation in battle, the last thing we ought to do is to deport their 
loved ones.
  The Trump administration's policies at our border have brought us 
nothing but chaos, despair, and shame. We cannot let the politics of 
fear and hate degrade the values that make America great.
  We cannot wall off our country from the strife gripping Central 
America. We cannot tweet our way out of this problem. We must lead our 
way out of this problem with real solutions and strategies that bring 
sanity, dignity, and order back to our border and prevent the kind of 
tragic loss of human life we saw earlier this week on the banks of the 
Rio Grande. We are just better than this. We are just better than this.
  If my colleagues do not raise their voices, then, they are complicit 
to this. History will judge us poorly.
  I hope we will have bipartisan voices who say: This is not who we 
are; this is not what we stand for. And we can work toward making sure 
this tragic photograph never ever happens again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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