Trump Immigration Policies

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great concern regarding our First and Fifth Amendment rights. Our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and right to due process are under attack by the Musk-Trump administration.

You don't have to like what someone says philosophically, politically, or otherwise, but free speech is not based on what you like or dislike or choose to hear or not hear; it is based on one's ability to express themselves. It is not conditioned on what you like to hear. Free speech is free speech.

We will not stand by while they violate the principles that form the bedrock of our democracy. Right now, this administration is defying a Supreme Court decision that ordered them to facilitate the return of an individual who was deported without due process. Alongside others, he was sent to an inhumane prison in a different country without a hearing. This happened in the United States, violating his right to due process. There are many individuals whose stories deserve to be told, so today I am going to highlight just a few.

Last week, I led a bicameral codel to two ICE detention facilities in Louisiana where Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Wendy Brito are being held.

Mahmoud Khalil is a lawful permanent resident and Columbia graduate student who was detained because of his participation in a peaceful protest. I had an opportunity to sit and visit with him. He said, without fear of contradiction: I am not anti-Semitic. I am not pro- Hamas. I am simply concerned about my homeland and the treatment of the people that are there.

Rumeysa Ozturk is a Ph.D. student detained because she wrote an op-ed in her school newspaper.

Wendy Brito, a mother of three U.S. citizens, who may one day be U.S. Senators. A U.S. citizen right here on our homeland, was deported without giving her due process. Her lawyer was in the waiting room. They would not let her have access to the lawyer. Then they added insult to injury by saying she signed a waiver.

Who and what mother would not say, when asked: Do you want your children to go with you versus being with some strangers would not opt for that first option?

Ms. Brito simply said: What are you going to do with my children? They said: Well, they can go with you. As a father, I would have made the same decision, but her lawyer was in the other room begging for an opportunity to stand in, and they would not give him or her an opportunity to do so.

Arresting people who are in this country legally--people whose only crimes have been to exercise their right to free speech--is an assault on our civil liberties and our Constitution.

An attack on these individuals is an attack on all of us. Who is to say what this ruthless administration will do next or who they will do it to? Will it be your family member, your friend, or a coworker who is taken without cause?

I am reminded of a quote from Angela Davis: ``If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night.''

We must all stick together and fight for the rights of our great country, this great Constitution, the First Amendment right of free speech, and the Fifth Amendment right of due process. We must continue speaking up and fighting back against these tyrants and preserve our Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if you found this funny or if you are laughing at a joke that is on your phone, but this is serious business, sir.

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