Crisis At the Border

Floor Speech

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Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise with a heavy heart, but I still love my country. I rise today, some 48 days now since the Mueller report was made public, some 48 days for all who have said that the President should be impeached and that he has broken the law, some 48 days now the President has been above the law--48 days.

But as we continue this journey, let us remember this: There are still children who have been separated from their parents. Let us please remember there is a new story today about this separation. Let us remember separation doesn't always mean that the child was separated from a mother or a father, but perhaps a grandparent or some other person who was a significant other in that person's life, somebody whom the child had some sense of belief in or belonging to.

And let us remember, please, that these children are among the least, the last, and the lost. These are not persons who were born into plenty--likely, born into extreme poverty. These are not persons who were born in the land of liberty and justice for all. These are persons who are seeking liberty and justice. These are persons who are trying to flee harm's way. These are babies.

One can only imagine what grief a parent suffers knowing that the child has been removed from the custody of the parent and is not able to be reconnected.

Let us just imagine ourselves: What would we do if our child were taken from us as we were trying to journey toward freedom, if we were trying to escape harm's way, and when we finally get to a point where we think that the laws that are applicable would apply to us, our child was removed from us? What would we do?

This is the United States of America. These laws are in place. Those who bemoan the fact that people are coming and seeking asylum should remember that the law allows what they are doing. They are not breaking the law when they walk up to the border and say, ``I am seeking asylum,'' when they give the pronouncement as to why and it is an appropriate pronouncement. That is the law.

And for our President to make this a big issue now, when he had control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency and never sought to change the law, one can believe that this is done with intentionality to make it an issue such that he can now claim someone else is responsible.

But the truth is we are all responsible. The truth is every one of us, myself included, we are all responsible for what is happening to these babies at the border. This President is willing to raid every coffer in the country to build a wall, but he is not willing to go into those coffers to make sure that children are treated fairly at the border.

I will close with this, my dear friends, my dear brothers and sisters, all of whom I love. I close with this: If these babies and the babies that were seen on television this morning peering through some sort of small space were coming from the northern border--if these babies were coming from the northern borders, if these were babies coming from the northern border--would we have the same mindset? Would we allow this to continue with babies?

We are all responsible, and it is time for us to do something about this crisis at the border--and doing something is more than building a wall. A wall will not solve the poverty that they are living in in these other countries, won't solve the persecution that they have to endure. A wall is not a solution to a humanitarian crisis.

It is time for us to act on the humanitarian crisis at the border and for this President to lead the way on acting on the crisis at the border.

I love my country, and I beg that we would do something to end this crisis.

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