[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PROTECTING SENSITIVE LOCATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, recently an Oregonian told me that his 
young daughter and her friends, especially her Hispanic friends, are 
scared at school. They are kids that are at school to learn. Then I 
learned why they are scared.
  I rise today to strongly condemn the Trump administration's 
unconscionable decision to rescind guidance that restricted immigration 
arrests near sensitive locations, including hospitals, places of 
worship, and schools.
  For several years, ICE operated under a policy that designated 
certain areas as safe from immigration enforcement raids. Now, Donald 
Trump has reversed that. This decision to no longer protect schools 
from immigration enforcement is harmful, and it makes our schools less 
safe.
  We should all be working together to keep students safe at school. 
Instead of criminalizing undocumented children and children who look 
like they might be undocumented, we should be protecting all children 
from the horrors of mass shootings, which unfortunately, are far too 
frequent in this country.
  I want to be clear. Immigrant children are not hiding in American 
schools as the current administration wants you to believe. They are 
there to learn, and taking them from their schools will cause immense 
suffering and chaos for families and communities. These are children 
who may go on some day to find the next cure for cancer or write a 
great American novel. They have tremendous potential.
  Now, I ask my colleagues to show some humanity. Please join 
Representative Adriano Espaillat from New York and me in supporting the 
Protecting Sensitive Locations Act.
  Show some humanity for children. Help keep our schools and other 
sensitive locations to be safe from harmful immigration enforcement 
actions.

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