Tearing Immigrant Children Away From Their Parents

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Correa for yielding.

I think as Americans learned, mostly over the last few weeks, that young children were being separated from their mothers and fathers at the U.S.-Mexico border, and now have heard that the Trump administration is proposing to put these young children who have been separated from their parents in tent camps on military bases in Texas and in other places, it makes people wonder whether the Nation has lost its moral compass under this administration.

Just because somebody crosses a border or presents themselves at a border, does not make them nonhuman.

The United States is a nation, if anything, that stands for and has stood for freedom, for human rights, and for democracy.

How can we carry that mantle when we refuse to treat people like human beings, especially young children?

This has become standard government policy under the Trump administration. It is leaving lasting trauma--emotional, mental, and physical trauma--to these young kids.

We should be able to enforce our immigration laws and still respect people's humanity. So I have been encouraged to see so many Americans speak up against this abhorrent policy. So many Americans from every corner of this Nation, every city and every part, have spoken up against this policy.

Because this Nation has stood as a moral beacon around the world, it was quite remarkable recently when the United Nations, which the United States hosts in New York City and for which the United States is the largest funder, condemned our Nation for separating kids from their families and their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. I ask us to think about that and its significance.

If we can't stop these kinds of things from happening in the United States, then I don't know that we can stop them from happening anywhere in the world. This is not only a call to conscience, it is a call to respect our Constitution, and it is a call that is not Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative but American. It is a call for respect of human dignity.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Correa for organizing this discussion today and for all of his work on this issue.

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