Trump Immigration Policies

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to President Trump's unlawful and unjust deportations to El Salvador.

Earlier this year, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th century wartime statute, to deport 137 Venezuelan men to a notorious prison abroad. This archaic law is being exploited to bypass our immigration system and deny individuals their most basic legal protections.

These deportations were not based on convictions or due process. They are based on ancestry and suspicions--tattoos misidentified, affiliations assumed, rights ignored.

The Supreme Court affirmed, by a 7-2 majority, these people deserve due process under our Constitution.

For me and for Representative Takano, this strikes painfully close to home.

During World War II, the same law was used to imprison over 120,000 Japanese Americans, including our families. My great-grandfather was taken from his home, incarcerated without cause, solely because of his ethnicity.

Now, we are seeing the same injustice unfold again. In communities like Kona, Hawaii, a child was taken from his elementary school classroom. Families are taken from their homes, and people live in fear. Children miss school. Parents avoid lifesaving care and their doctors. Faith communities grow quiet, not because of guilt but because of government overreach.

Let us be clear. These individuals are our neighbors, workers, students, and friends. They deserve dignity and due process, not detention and deportation.

Sending people to foreign prisons without a trial, without rights, and without hope is not only unconstitutional. It is un-American, and it must stop.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to honor the oath we all took in this very Chamber to uphold the Constitution, protect due process, and defend the values that define our Nation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source