[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H2263-H2264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            STATE OF OUR UNION IS TRAUMATIZING OUR CHILDREN

  (Ms. Pressley of Massachusetts was recognized to address the House 
for 5 minutes.)
  Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, the state of our Union is traumatizing 
our children. Today, I refuse to give an audience to a man who breaks 
promises and steals childhoods, but instead, I rise to address the 
children directly.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today for 2-month-old Juan Nicolas. Juan 
Nicolas, you came into this world mere weeks ago and already America 
has broken her promise to you.
  At barely 2 months old, you should know only the comfort of a soft 
blanket and your mother's voice. Your cries should be met with warm 
milk and lullabies, but your small body has been detained by the State. 
You and your mother were imprisoned at Dilley Detention Center, a for-
profit prison. Your mother told us you were in pain. I can only imagine 
the pain she felt, too. Your small body vomited up the formula you 
drank. The water there is dirty. The stress and trauma of being 
shackled and locked up in the precious days of postpartum made nursing 
impossible. You were finally seen by a doctor, returned to the baby 
prison that is Dilley, and then mere hours later, your entire family, 
your parents, and your 1-year-old sister, Mia, were forcefully deported 
and left along the side of the road in Mexico.
  You, my sweet boy, are precious and deserving of love and safety. No 
child should endure what you are going through. Journalists, 
pediatricians, and people of good conscience have rallied around your 
family to keep you safe.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today for 2-year-old Daphne from Massachusetts. 
Daphne, your dad, Fidel, loves you more than anything. Your father has 
no criminal record. He has done nothing wrong. I know it is hard for 
you to understand why your father suddenly disappeared. ICE says Fidel 
was picked up as a collateral during an ICE operation in Chelsea, 
Massachusetts. Fathers are not collateral. They are someone's whole 
world.
  Daphne, your dad missed you every day that you were apart. You are 
together again, but you never should have been separated. We will do 
everything we can to keep him home with you where he belongs.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today for 9-year-old Susej. The world has heard 
your pleas from behind the walls of the Dilley Detention Center. You 
have been imprisoned for over 60 days, and I want you to know that so 
many people are pressing for your freedom. You deserve a joyful life 
free from fear and a childhood filled with love, but this White House 
and everyone complicit in their wholesale child abuse and neglect has 
ignored your cries. Your story, brilliance, and voice belong 
everywhere, so let me read directly from a letter you wrote.
  You pleaded: I miss my school and my friends. I feel bad since when I 
came here to this place because I have been here too long. I have been 
2 years and 6 months in the United States, and I was happy with my 
friends in the school, but now I need to leave. Seeing how people like 
me, immigrants, are being treated changes my perspective about the U.S. 
My mom and I came to the U.S. looking for a good job and a safe place 
to live, and my mom was looking for a good job.
  You believed in the promise of America. I will not stop fighting 
until you are free.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today for siblings from Chelsea in my district. 
Liam, Ailany, and Ashley. Ailany, you were only 2 weeks old when your 
father was taken by ICE. In the precious days he spent with you, he 
cared for you

[[Page H2264]]

with so much love and devotion. I am heartbroken that as the days drag 
on you are missing out on his voice soothing you, his arms cradling you 
back to sleep. There is no doubt he loves you deeply. His absence has 
nothing to do with you.
  Instead, it is the work of a cruel and callous government that is 
causing your family lasting harm and heartbreak.
  Liam, I know at 3 years old you feel the ache of absence and 
constantly ask for daddy. Your big sister, Ashley, has lost her 
advocate. Your dad worked hard to get her the support she needed to 
navigate school and her autism diagnosis daily.
  Your mom is a determined woman and working hard to keep you all safe, 
but the weight of this is something no one should have to endure.
  Madam Speaker, I say to Ailany, Liam, and Ashley that we will do 
everything we can to bring your daddy back home. He is a good man who 
has done nothing wrong, and the courts agreed. While he has been 
brought back to the United States, he remains in ICE custody, denied 
precious time with his family and his future hanging in the balance. We 
will not stop fighting until your family is reunited.
  Madam Speaker, Juan Nicolas, Susej, Ailany, Liam, Ashley, and Daphne, 
today, I recognize you as my honorary guests to the state of the Union, 
not because the man who imprisoned you or denied you your parents' care 
deserves an audience, but because you belong everywhere. You deserve to 
live and thrive and to take up space.
  The Halls of Congress don't belong to a dictator. They belong to you. 
Childhood should be a birthright, but today in America, it is a 
privilege afforded to the few and not the many. I will fight for you 
like you are my own because you deserve that.

                          ____________________