[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H4234-H4238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE UNITED STATES REPRESENTS HOPEFUL NEW BEGINNINGS
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mrs.
Ramirez of Illinois was recognized for 60 minutes.)
General Leave
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I am proudly on this House floor going to
talk about what brings me to this place.
Yes, I am the Congresswoman of Illinois' Third Congressional
District. I am also the proud daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. I am a
citizen by birthright. I am the wife of an incredible man who until
recently was a DACA recipient, a Dreamer, and Congresista from a
welcoming city, State, and district.
We know the story of our Nation wouldn't be complete without the joy,
without the sweat, and without the struggles and resilience of those
who, whether a couple of generations ago or 1 year ago, came to this
country in search of safety, security, and opportunity.
{time} 1820
Whether arriving through the southern border like my mother did 43
years ago or welcomed by the Mother of Exiles, the Statue of Liberty,
like the ancestors of so many Members of Congress that I serve with,
including the man in the Oval Office, our country has represented
hopeful new beginnings for so many. Yet, too many have forgotten these
histories.
As this country approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, I
rise during Immigrant Heritage Month asking us to reflect on this
country's history, on this country's story, our progress and our
failures, and our enduring but not yet fulfilled commitment to the
principles of liberty and justice for all.
When a government fails to secure these rights and liberties for all
people, regardless of legal status, origin, nationality, religion, or
economic condition, it is, in fact, the responsibility of Members of
Congress to challenge and transform systems that deny our communities
dignity and justice.
I am clear that we have not yet fully realized our country's founding
ideals.
The policies passed by this body and the powers seized by Trump's
administration have created barriers and hardships for asylum seekers,
for refugees, and all immigrant communities, including conditions that
undermine internationally recognized human rights and constitutional
protections.
When the administration is unwilling to uphold our commitments to
human rights and obligations under the Constitution, Members of
Congress in this body must act. We must meet the moment, and we must
legislate. Because we know that immigrant communities make significant
social, cultural, economic, and civic contributions to our country,
strengthening and enriching our collective future.
The 250th anniversary of America serves not only as a commemoration
but also as a choice point. We can choose to honor the contributions of
immigrants by bringing 11 million people out of the shadows. We can
choose to recognize our shared commitment to never again turn our backs
on those seeking refuge and safety. We can choose to create pathways to
citizenship for DACA recipients, who have been in this country since
the age of 2 who know no other country other than this one as their
own, and those that are TPS holders and in mixed-status families.
We can choose to renew our commitment to building a more inclusive,
equitable, and united future for all who call the United States home,
or we can allow Trump and this administration to continue terrorizing
our communities, denying relief, violating protections, and certainly
separating the families that my colleague just a moment ago bragged
about being the party of families.
Here is the thing: I know where I stand, and I know where Trump,
Noem, and now Markwayne, Homan, Miller, and Republicans in Congress
stand. Trump and his cronies want to define who gets to be American and
who is not American enough for them. He wants to define who is worthy
of stability, of safety, of security, of opportunity, and who gets to
be included in our Nation's founding ideals.
I, on this House floor, reject his white supremacist, xenophobic,
bigoted agenda. It is important for us as Members of Congress to
continue to fight for the opportunity that this Nation represents for
so many of us like the opportunity to buy the first pair of shoes for
your children, the opportunity to receive an education, to get a
family-sustaining job, to establish a small business, and, for me, to
become the very first Latina in the entire Midwest to serve in
Congress.
I am the daughter of Maria Elvira Ramirez Guerra, a ``powerful'';
``poderosa'' woman ``that fought for me''; ``que lucho por mi,'' and
carried that legacy that I get to carry now every single day in these
Halls of Congress.
For us on Immigrant Heritage Month and in this Special Order hour, it
is important as Members of Congress, those of us who are
unapologetically children of immigrants, to remind everyone that our
experiences, that the experience of refugees, that the experience of
immigrants are also part of this Nation.
We belong, and we will not let anyone tell us that we are not the
inheritors of the promise of America, just like so many of my
colleagues' ancestors were for them.
Today, I say no bans, no walls, no raids, no kidnappings, no masked
agents terrorizing our communities, no military attacking our
neighbors, and no authoritarians in the Oval Office. ``Period'';
``Punto.''
[[Page H4235]]
Mr. Speaker, I will yield to some of my colleagues who will recognize
and uplift the stories of the immigrant communities they represent and
hold President Trump and Republicans accountable for the continued
attacks on our immigrant communities.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).
Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, I stood on a farm in
Haleiwa for the blessing of the Pacific Gateway Center's new land. I
looked out at the fields and at the farmers and families gathered there
ready to work, grow food, and to build something of their own. It was
immigrants focused on strengthening their community, our economy, and
creating a better life for their children.
As I stood there, I could not stop thinking: This is it. This is
America. This is what a true celebration of 250 years of America looks
like. It is a more honest portrait of our country than any gilded
ballroom or caged fight on the White House lawn could ever offer: hands
in the soil, families laying down roots, people arriving with hope,
working hard, and building a life for their children and their
grandchildren.
That is my family's story, too. I am a Yonsei, a fourth-generation of
Okinawan descent. Like so many other Japanese, Filipino, Chinese
families in Hawaii, agriculture and the plantations were the gateway
that allowed us to come, to work, to lay down our roots, and to build a
real future for our children.
I would not be standing here today as a Member of Congress if my
family had not been given that chance, had that pathway not existed for
so many immigrants like us.
For so many, somewhere in our family's story, someone got here.
Someone arrived with the same hope, the same courage, and the same
belief that tomorrow could be a better day than today, that their
children could go further than they did, that this country could be a
place where hard work, sacrifice, and community still meant something.
That is where this administration has twisted the story. They want us
to believe immigrants are the enemy, but when you attack immigrant
children and women and workers and families, you are attacking the very
people who helped create our American identity.
When you detain families, separate children, strip people of their
rights, and tell whole communities they do not belong, you are not
protecting America. You are betraying her promise. They can try to
paint over the truth. They can try to dress it up, cover the cracks
with gold, or write immigrants out of the story, but the truth is
carved into America's foundation: America's heritage is, in fact,
immigration.
It is arrival. It is hard work. It is sacrifice. It is the belief
that tomorrow can be better than today. That is what America first
should mean, not pitting immigrant against nonimmigrant.
By the way, unless you are indigenous to this land, you are, in fact,
an immigrant. Not turning families into targets, but creating
opportunities and pathways for the people who came here, laid down
their roots, helped build this country, and still carry it forward
every single day. That is what gives me hope.
Because there are still people in this country who have not lost
sight of that dream. I saw them in Haleiwa. I saw people and families
choosing work, choosing community, choosing to build, and choosing
courage. I saw people making sure that pathway is still there for the
next family, the next generation, and the next person looking for a
chance.
That is the America I believe in. An America where immigrant families
are not treated as threats, but recognized as part of who we are. An
America that understands the American Dream has never been about where
you came from. It is about what you are willing to build when you get
here.
As we celebrate National Immigrant Heritage Month and prepare to mark
250 years of this country, let us tell the truth: Immigrants are not
outside America's story. They are the story. They are not a threat to
America's heritage. They are America's heritage.
If we are serious about honoring 250 years of America, then we have a
responsibility to fight for the people still reaching for that same
promise--to lay down roots, to build a better life, to raise a family
in safety and dignity, and to contribute, and with hope to belong to
this country.
Mr. Speaker, I saw hope that day in Haleiwa. I saw the American
Dream. That is what I am holding on to.
It is up to each and every one of us to carry on the dream of our
forefathers. As long as there are people who carry that dream forward,
and as long as we have the courage to protect it, that dream will
continue.
{time} 1830
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to echo something that Ms. Tokuda
said that I often remind my colleagues at Homeland Security as they
continue to vilify immigrants: Unless you are indigenous, or you were
forced to come here, you, too, are an immigrant. Whether your family
came in the 1800s or the early 1900s, we must not forget that this
country is built by immigrants. Yet, so many people have such a short
memory of history.
Immigrants are, in fact, the story of this country. To talk a little
bit more about that, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from
Washington State (Ms. Jayapal).
Ms. JAYAPAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Ramirez for her
leadership and for consistently fighting for immigrants across this
country.
Today, as we recognize Immigrant Heritage Month, immigrants and
people of all statuses face horrific, unprecedented attacks from the
Trump administration. Even as this administration does everything
possible to attack immigrants and those who stand with them, what we
see is incredible strength, resilience, organizing, and leadership.
What is the message of all of that? The message is that immigration
and immigrants have and always will make us better as a country.
I am very proud to be the first Indian American--in fact, the first
South Asian-American woman elected to the House and one of just two
dozen naturalized citizens to serve in Congress.
I came to this country alone when I was 16 years old. My parents had
very meager savings, but they used all of it to send me to this country
because they believed so much that this was the place that I would have
the best education and the most opportunities.
Well, it took me 17 years to get my citizenship. I was on an alphabet
soup of visas for that time. Now, I am so proud to be the first
naturalized citizen to serve as the ranking member of the Immigration
Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee.
In that role, I have held accountability hearings and roundtables
here in Washington, D.C., and across the country to hear people's
stories and to shine a light on how the administration is harming our
communities and how we can fight back.
What I have heard overwhelmingly, no matter where I am, is people
from all walks of life saying no to these anti-immigrant actions from
this administration. People are determined to ensure that our country
remains a welcoming place for people around the globe.
We see neighbors organizing food delivery and carpools for families
who are afraid to leave their homes. We see gatherings at schools for
dropoff and pickup to keep kids safe. We see organizing in communities
to be prepared to document ICE and CBP abuses and hold this
administration accountable.
I have heard from a young man who is Active-Duty military serving his
country despite this country deporting his father, and a young woman
trying to juggle pursuing her education while caring for her young
sibling after ICE detained her mother.
I know organizational leaders across the country who are citizens and
should have nothing to fear but have been forced to move their families
into safe houses. They are determined to continue demanding justice
nevertheless. I was moved to hear from one person in the Twin Cities
that they need to have their neighbors' backs because their communities
are not whole without them.
These sentiments, again, reflect the love and generosity of the
American people and their understanding that immigrants are vital to
all of our communities.
In my hometown of Seattle, immigrants contribute to every sector of
our economy, just like they do across
[[Page H4236]]
the country. Seattle is a hub of creation, developing and advancing
cutting-edge technology and research. Nearly 160,000 immigrants in
Seattle work in STEM. Over 40 percent of people in Seattle with STEM
degrees are immigrants.
Immigrants also make tremendous contributions in construction and
housing. We are an agricultural State, and we have immigrants working
across our farms everywhere--and in manufacturing and business.
As Republicans raise costs and destroy our safety net, it is
immigrants who are keeping Social Security afloat. A report from the
Social Security trustees shows that immigration improves the Social
Security trust fund's solvency, specifically showing that when
immigration increases, the trust fund's deficit decreases.
Just looking at 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $25.7 billion in
Social Security taxes that take care of our seniors who are receiving
Social Security today. They contribute even as they have no expectation
of ever benefiting.
Donald Trump and Stephen Miller always claimed that they were going
after the worst of the worst. That is clearly not what has happened.
Rather, they have been about ending all immigration to this country of
any kind.
Since Trump came into office, 400,000 people have been detained
across the interior of our country. That includes parents of U.S.
citizen children, which has harmed over 11,000 kids.
USCIS data shows sharp declines in approvals for all kinds of
immigration benefits, including work visas and family reunification. In
2025, overall approvals dropped 27 percent. We don't have full data on
student visas yet, but what we do have shows a 31-percent decrease.
Mr. Speaker, this is all inflicting lasting harm on our economy and
our country. Immigrants are an essential part of our history, our
present, and our future. I will never stop fighting for a
comprehensive, humane immigration system that recognizes the tremendous
contributions, the values, and the threads that immigrants weave
throughout this country to make us as a country whole.
This has never just been about immigration. It is about who we are as
a country and what we are willing to stand up for.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, who are we as a nation? I thank
Congresswoman Jayapal for powerfully reminding us that we cannot talk
about having ideals and being a country that stands up for children and
opportunity, and continue to dismiss those who contribute every single
day in making that reality.
To continue this conversation around the contributions and the impact
that immigrants make every single day in this Nation, I yield to the
gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).
Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressional Progressive
Caucus vice chair, Congresswoman Ramirez, for hosting this Special
Order hour.
I rise today during Immigrant Heritage Month to honor our hardworking
immigrant communities and call out the cruel and dangerous actions of
the Trump administration.
While communities across America are honoring generations of
immigrants who built our Nation, Trump and his administration are
choosing fear, cruelty, and division.
This administration is carrying out a mass deportation agenda that is
tearing through our communities, our barrios, and our families to
target people who have lived in this country for decades, who own
businesses, and who are students, leaders, teachers, and nurses in our
community.
This administration wants to erase the contributions of immigrants
while benefiting from their hard work, innovation, and sacrifices.
Let me remind them: Immigrants are not outsiders. They are the reason
America looks the way it does.
I want to highlight Karla Toledo. She was brought to this country at
1 year old. She was violently pulled from her home and put in
detention, inhumanely detained for 4 days. She was released on the
lowest bond possible, and her charges were dropped.
{time} 1840
The day before yesterday, ICE and DHS embarrassed by the spotlight
and the black eye, are bringing new charges against her for
deportation. We are sick as a community of being scapegoated. We are
sick as a people of being scapegoated.
I am the granddaughter of a bracero, a guest worker, a hardworking
Mexican immigrant who came to this country seeking opportunity.
I am the daughter of a Member of Congress, who spent his life
fighting for immigrants and working families.
The Trump administration can attack immigrants, but they cannot erase
their stories. They cannot erase our stories. They cannot erase our
contributions, and they cannot erase the truth. Immigrants built this
country.
(English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
``Immigrants are part of our history, past, present, and future.''
``Los inmigrantes son parte de nuestra historia, nuestro presente y
nuestro futuro.''
No amount of fear or cruelty will change that.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from
Michigan (Ms. Tlaib), one of my colleagues who has been at the
forefront, really pushing back on all the terror that we are seeing
around the country, whether it is in detention, whether it is in the
abductions that are happening on the ground, or if it is at check-ins
and making sure that people feel safe to go to court.
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good colleague from Chicago,
Congresswoman Ramirez, for her incredible advocacy and her sharing and
vulnerability in expressing her lived experience or sharing her lived
experience in this Chamber.
I am proud to be the daughter of Palestinian immigrants. My father
came to this country at 19 years old. He was the guy in the 1970s that
would pull up his arms and say: Which watch do you want? He never felt
any kind of human dignity ever in his life until he joined the Ford
Motor Company and became a member of the United Auto Workers.
My mother, who was 3 months pregnant with me on the airplane here to
the United States from Palestine, came here with an eighth grade
education.
Both of them could have never imagined in their lifetime that their
eldest daughter would be the first in the family to graduate from high
school, as well as achieve a college degree, and then later become one
of the first Muslim women elected to the United States Congress.
These are the stories that I wish people would share more about our
immigrant neighbors. I want to uplift those stories--the resilience,
the contributions of so many of our immigrant neighbors across our
country, especially in my district.
I grew up in southwest Detroit where there are 20 different ethnic
groups. It taught me diversity. It made me a better person to be able
to be around that type of strength, all of the different stories that
were so similar to my parents' stories.
What I also love about my current 12th Congressional District is you
can go in a community, and it is a huge, beautiful African diaspora, a
Caribbean community, an Arab community. All throughout my district,
there is so much love, and so many of our communities with immigrants
are centered on family.
However, this Immigrant Heritage Month carries a heavier weight as
this administration continues to target our immigrant neighbors day
after day.
It has been incredibly painful, not just for myself and immigrants in
our country, but for the American people, to watch our immigrant
neighbors being abducted by masked DHS agents, our children being torn
from their parents and some even zip-tied, and our disabled seniors
being left to languish in detention camps. The images have been
horrifying.
I wish to highlight one story of Maykol Duarte. He was from southwest
Detroit. He was in high school. He was a high school student with only
a few credits away from graduation. He was racially profiled by local
police and handed over to ICE. He was on his way to a field trip, Mr.
Speaker, with his friends, and now he was torn away from his loving
community and deported to Colombia.
These are real-life stories, heartbreaking consequences of policies
of this administration centered on cruelty.
[[Page H4237]]
We must acknowledge and recognize that not all immigrant communities,
though, are impacted equally. I wish to take time to express my deepest
fear that we are looking away from the impact on Black immigrants,
which is the fastest growing immigrant group in the United States.
Today, more than one in five Black Americans are immigrants or children
of immigrants. Many of them face a huge impact or harm within our
immigration system. They are more likely to be detained, more likely to
be deported, and more likely to be denied asylum and relief.
These figures are not accidental. They are systemic and stem from a
racist administration that continues to target African and Caribbean
communities with no end in sight. This administration continues to
separate our families and strip protections from those who need it
most.
I ask my colleagues to not accept this broken, inhumane immigration
system that treats people differently based on their race and on their
origin. We must fight for fairness, dignity, and justice for all.
This Immigrant Heritage Month and every month, we all must stand with
our immigrant neighbors and share the stories. I know Congresswoman
Ramirez shared her story, and I shared my story.
This is the American Dream. There is no such thing as the Canadian
dream, the German dream. There is only the American Dream, and all of
us need to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.
Mrs. RAMIREZ. We are a nation of immigrants, and, unfortunately, many
of our colleagues have forgotten that.
I do wonder if their grandparents when they came to this country,
whether they were 5, whether they were 12, whether they were 17, if
they were alive today, what would they say about their grandchildren
that forgot the struggle and the challenges and what they needed when
their grandparents came to this country.
I wish to take a moment to honor people who exemplify the power of
immigrant heritage as so many of my colleagues have done today in our
Special Order hour, because I know that we have a President who has
done everything in his power to vilify the immigrant community, to call
them criminals, to call them all sorts of other names, to negate their
humanity, and forget about the names, the faces of women, of children,
of hardworking people that, in fact, contribute to this community, to
this country every single day.
Honoring Dr. Gladys Fatima Marquez
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Today, I rise to honor Dr. Gladys Fatima Marquez.
Gladys is a high school bilingual English language learners teacher
with over 20 years of classroom experience. She is also on the National
Education Association's executive committee. She is a member and a past
chair of the NEA Hispanic Caucus.
Gladys is the proud granddaughter of an immigrant from Zacatecas,
Mexico. Her grandfather was a railroad worker on the Rock Island for 10
years before he was able to bring his family from Zacatecas in the
1960s.
Gladys' mother came here at the age of 13 and struggled to feel as
though she belonged, especially at school. She, like thousands of other
immigrant students, left school to join the workforce, taking a minimum
wage factory job.
Her mother's experience inflamed her life's passion. Gladys worked to
ensure every student believes in themselves, in their heritage, in who
they are, and that they know that they can, in fact, achieve their
dreams.
In addition to changing the world one child at a time, Gladys is a
fierce advocate and defender of our immigrant neighbors. She has
organized teach-ins at immigration detention centers, humanitarian
missions to shelters at the border, and she has helped organize massive
marches in protest of the national policy leading to separation of
immigrant families and the incarceration of immigrant children. She
lobbied and led efforts to support DACA recipients, and she has helped
facilitate countless know-your-rights clinics.
On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend Dr.
Gladys Fatima Marquez for her commitment to ensure that every member of
our community, from our students and our immigrant neighbors, know that
they belong.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Gladys.
Honoring Shaiska Malca
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I also rise to honor Shaiska Malca, a
constituent of the Illinois Third Congressional District and an
educator, children's book author, and entrepreneur.
Shaiska is a proud Panamanian immigrant and vice president of the
DuPage Hispanic Alliance.
Inspired by her own multicultural family and her mother, who had her
own impressive career in education, Shaiska founded Pura Vida Talk to
nurture bilingualism in our communities.
Pura Vida Talk empowers children to embrace multiculturalism and
build bridges across our communities.
Her work to share her culture and language encourages children across
Illinois' Third Congressional District and beyond to become global
citizens who appreciate and celebrate diversity; all while they are
being equipped with the invaluable skill of bilingualism, a skill that
I think is a superpower and more people should seek.
{time} 1850
On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend
Shaiska Malca for reminding us of the strength we can find in
connecting to our roots, our language, and our heritage.
I thank and congratulate Shaiska for her work.
Protecting All Children
Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, as we get closer to the end of the Special
Order hour, I want to go back to the children because in the previous
Special Order hour, my colleagues to the right talked a lot about
children. They talked about protecting children, protecting humanity,
protecting family, and protecting the fiber of what it is to be an
American.
While I sigh because I sense the hypocrisy that came from that
Special Order hour, I do know that growing up, I, in fact, was taught
that we take care of the children and families in our community not
just by words but through action. I learned that we must honor our
shared humanity to ensure that children and families, in fact, get to
thrive.
But right now, we are living in times where too many children and
families are living the indignity and the trauma of inhumane processing
centers, inhumane detention facilities, and family separation.
Mr. Speaker, since the start of the Trump administration, at least 50
people have died in ICE detention. More than 6,200 children--children--
have been arrested by ICE at traffic stops, home raids, routine check-
in appointments, bus stops, hospitals, and airports. More than 100,000
children, including U.S. citizens, have been separated from their
families through the Trump administration.
Mr. Speaker, these aren't just numbers. Every one of them is a
beloved child that is being denied the ability to live a fulfilling
life, a life where they get to really imagine who they can be.
I saw this terror and trauma firsthand when I visited Steven, my 14-
year-old constituent with autism, and his father, Victor, who spent
more than 60 days in Dilley's processing facility after being taken at
an immigration check-in.
I saw it as he hugged me and he begged me to tell him that ICE would
not detain him again and threaten him that he would never see his
mother again as they did in that detention facility.
Mr. Speaker, I know the pain that families separated by a cruel,
inhumane immigration system endure. Do you know why? It is because I
watched as so many people around the world watched Kevin, my 18-year-
old U.S. citizen constituent with stage IV terminal colon cancer cry,
``Mama, Mama,'' as he was finally reunited with his mother and father.
His parents had been detained for 1 whole month in Arizona at a
detention facility after they had asked for a humanitarian visa to come
see their child one last time. You see, Kevin, after we finally were
able to get his parents released, died hours after finally seeing his
parents for one last time.
I think of Ofelia, my 15-year-old constituent, whose life was cut
short by a rare and aggressive form of cancer, but she continued to
fight one more battle. She fought to have her father's order of
deportation canceled, ensuring he would no longer live in fear. You
see,
[[Page H4238]]
she testified in court for her father, but less than 3 days later,
Ofelia lost her battle to cancer.
Mr. Speaker, I get emotional because there is a hypocritical party
who talks about children and families and standing up for them, but for
some reason, Ofelia, Kevin, and Steven are not the kind of children
they are willing to stand up for. They are United States citizen
children, by the way.
Because I refuse to accept that we must endure these atrocities, we
must reject the cruelty that is robbing our children and families of
their future. Instead, we should be doing everything we can to ensure
that children like Ofelia, like Steven, and like Kevin have everything
they need to thrive.
Instead, we have children, until their dying moment, fighting for the
livelihood of their parents. It is why I have said in the Committee on
Homeland Security--and I am going to say it on this House floor--that
we must abolish ICE. We must end immigrant detention, and we have to
dismantle the Department of Homeland Security that under the premise of
protecting us from domestic terrorism has abused our civil rights every
single day and has killed U.S. citizens and more than 50 people this
past year.
It is why I encourage my colleagues to join me as a cosponsor of H.R.
7190, the Melt ICE Act, as a meaningful step forward. The reality is
that I can't have colleagues here saying that all people are created
equal, but somehow immigrants don't fit that definition.
I cannot stand here and hear a party talk about being pro-family but
deny the livelihood for so many families.
Mr. Speaker, we have been talking about this fourth anniversary of
the Dobbs decision, but I want to talk to you about what is happening
to pregnant women in detention right now. For the party that says that
they want to protect unborn life at all costs, why is it that immigrant
women in detention don't fit that definition?
We must confront a painful but necessary truth: DHS' violence and
immigration enforcement have denied immigrants the right to personhood.
Immigration detention denies people access to reproductive healthcare
and represents forms of government control over immigrant bodies.
Do you know how I know this? I know this because of a report that at
least a dozen pregnant girls, some who are as young as 13 years of age,
and at least half of whom got pregnant because they were raped, are
being held right now in a facility in San Benito, Texas, funded by
American taxpayer dollars; and a report that at least 400 pregnant
women were deported between January 2025 and February 2026.
It is critical that we acknowledge that immigrant and reproductive
justice is interconnected. Both immigrant and reproductive justice is
rooted in a shared struggle against the structural systems of racism,
xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, trans phobia, and economic oppression
that police bodies and restrict bodily autonomy.
We must affirm the dignity and humanity of all people, including our
immigrant neighbors, and condemn any policies that treat people as
unworthy or inadequate of healthcare and fundamental rights or bodily
autonomy.
Mr. Speaker, as I think about where we are in this precise moment, I
want to invite my colleagues to remember what we said are the founding
ideals of this country, because we cannot talk about standing up for
injustice and continue to fund the injustice we are seeing around the
country when it comes to our immigrant communities.
It is why I thank my colleagues who joined today's Special Order
honoring Immigrant Heritage Month, and I want to close with this
message: The question isn't whether change is possible. It is whether
we have the courage to demand it. I cannot understand how some people
here can think it is acceptable to terrorize children and then say that
they are the ones fighting for children in the same sentence.
Shame on every person in this country who wants to lock up children
in cages, who wants to lock up children and separate them from their
loved ones and their communities. Shame on those who are willing to
deny children air, sun, play, laughter, joy, and every single thing a
little one needs to be able to thrive.
Mr. Speaker, President Mandela said: ``There can be no keener
revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its
children.''
This House has to reckon with the reality that when it comes to
immigrant children, you should be ashamed of yourself in the way that
you are operating. Incarcerating children is an evil, morally bankrupt
practice that calls into question any commitment our Nation claims to
have about their preciousness.
{time} 1900
We must unleash our collective outrage. We must demand that no other
children experience what Steven, what Liam, and the more than 3,800
children detained by ICE have endured.
So let's demand an end to mandatory detention, to private detention
facilities that are profiting off of the pain of our children, to
family detention, to warehouse detention, and to the profiting off our
pain by corporate billionaires and campaign donors to the President.
And may we remember that every child is our child, and a fight for
affordable housing, universal healthcare, climate resilience, humane
immigration reform, thriving wages, labor rights is our fight, as well.
I reject a world where, during Immigrant Heritage Month, Palestinians
in need of medical care cannot get visas to access care in the United
States; where children grieve detained fathers on Father's Day; where
deported sons are tortured in prisons in El Salvador; where children
are held in U.S. for-profit detention centers; or where a mother in
Durango, Mexico, cries in the lap of her dying 18-year-old son after
being separated by a cruel and inhumane immigration system.
I refuse to accept that we must endure these atrocities. The
suffering is too great. The pain is too great to bear.
So instead, Mr. Speaker, let us move forward with a loving wisdom
that we are, in fact, precious and beloved; that we are bound together;
that we belong to one another; and that every single child, regardless
of legal status, is our child.
And may we honor our history by recognizing the human rights and
constitutional protections afforded to all in this Nation and all those
who seek refuge and protection.
I am ready to build that world together today, and to do so let's
melt ICE, let's dismantle DHS because, frankly, Mr. Speaker, anything
less is unacceptable.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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