Trump Immigration Policies
Floor Speech
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House for a Special Order hour with my Congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues. I do so on the 100th day of the Trump administration, and I note that this is a day when we received the news that our economy has contracted and that we are witnessing confusion, chaos in our markets, and uncertainty about our economic future.
We can also mark this day by stating that our country is in the midst of a constitutional crisis.
The administration is disappearing individuals without due process in defiance of court orders. They are ripping people from their homes and communities, putting them on secretive flights, and sending them overseas, including more than 280 individuals sent to the brutal CECOT prison in El Salvador without so much as a hearing.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the administration must facilitate the return of one such man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father, but the executive branch has ignored the highest Court in the land, saying that their own views matter more.
Just last night, the President of the United States admitted in a public interview that he could return Mr. Abrego Garcia if he wanted to, but he is choosing not to. He has openly mused about sending American citizens to El Salvador next because it always starts with those without power, the most vulnerable, but it never ends there, and that should terrify every American.
I want to take the opportunity to draw attention to another case that has captured the public conscience, that of Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a 31-year-old gay Venezuelan makeup artist and asylum seeker who was forcibly disappeared without due process.
Andry entered the United States legally, fleeing persecution for his sexual orientation and political beliefs. He passed an initial asylum screening and had no criminal record. Yet, without warning or due process, he was forcibly removed to El Salvador and imprisoned in the notorious CECOT facility.
What is the evidence against him? A couple of crown tattoos above the names ``Mom'' and ``Dad,'' symbols of his love for his hometown's Three Kings Day celebrations.
Andry's case exemplifies the dangers of unchecked executive power and what happens when the rule of law is pushed aside.
I call on President Trump to free Andry.
There are so many others to talk about: students who have been snatched off the streets, young American citizens kicked out without so much as a hearing, and the list goes on and on.
I want to be clear that this is not just about immigrants. This is bigger than that. If the government can violate the Constitution with impunity in these cases, then it can do so anywhere to anyone.
To the Americans listening at home, I ask you: How would you feel if masked men grabbed you in broad daylight and refused to show their ID? I know I would be terrified, and I bet you would be, too.
Today, we will hear from a number of my Congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues as we bring a spotlight to these injustices.
Escobar).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Escobar for her comments.
I am outraged to hear that Republicans on the Judiciary Committee would not protect citizens from deportation. We are talking about citizens.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ramirez for standing up for the rule of law.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for his principled remarks about the importance of the rule of law in our country and his enunciating that political dissent in our country is not a crime.
Ansari).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ansari. I want to thank her for traveling with three other of our colleagues to El Salvador last week. I know that she traveled at her own expense. I am very proud that we have members of this caucus who care so deeply about people who have been treated so unjustly. Nobody should be disappeared out of our country without habeas corpus hearings.
I also thank Representative Carter for his efforts, along with, I believe, other Members of Congress to visit the graduate students held in a New Orleans jail.
Omar).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, the sign behind me says ``9-0.'' ``9-0'' is the order of the Supreme Court. They ruled 9-0 that Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be brought back or must be facilitated back into the country. This 9-0 Supreme Court order is being defied by the President. No one in our country, no person, no man, is above the law.
Randall).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments.
Rivas).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Rivas for her comments and bringing to light the tragic stories of children who are citizens with cancer being deported from our country.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Tonko for his comments. I agree with the gentleman. This is a red line that cannot be crossed. We cannot permit a President to defy a 9-0 order of the Supreme Court. No person and no man is above the law.
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Takano for holding this Special Order. This is very important.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the Trump administration is carrying out a campaign of reckless cruelty with zero accountability.
Last week, the home of a woman from Oklahoma was mistakenly targeted by ICE agents. They broke into her home, forced her and her children outside at gunpoint in their underwear, and proceeded to ransack their home.
The people who ICE were looking for didn't even live there, but that didn't stop them from traumatizing the current residents, confiscating their life savings, and fleeing the scene without leaving any contact information or instructions for how this innocent family could get their belongings back, including their money.
More recently, over the past weekend, we learned that Trump administration's police deported a 4-year-old American citizen who has stage IV cancer, and then they lied about it. On Monday, Trump's deportation czar claimed that the child's mother chose to bring her son with her when she was deported without any kind of due process.
Let me be clear. That is another boldface lie. The truth is that this woman did what any mom would do when faced with such a terrifying situation. She tried desperately to protect her child. She pled with the Trump's deportation police to let her contact her family to arrange care for her son and make sure that he keeps receiving the medical treatment that he desperately needs.
Yet, Trump's police said: No. They denied this basic right. They would not let her call her family, nor her lawyer. As a result, her son no longer has access to his lifesaving cancer treatment.
It is a confounding degree of evil that we are dealing with in the Trump administration and this Republican-controlled Congress that fails to find its spine and do the right thing for the people of this country.
I truly cannot comprehend the heartlessness that is required to do these things like this, and I am praying for all of the victims of this administration's campaign of terror in my country.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Watson Coleman for informing the Nation about what happened earlier today with that family in Oklahoma.
It strikes me that we are witnessing this evolution of this administration's policies that began with: We are just going to deport criminals.
It then evolved into disappearing people without hearings and claiming that the people they were disappearing were criminals, dangerous criminals, members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
They admitted that there were mistakes made, but now we are seeing actual children who are citizens being spirited out of the country. This ought to be concerning to all Americans. It is not about them anymore. It is about us. It is about every single person who is in danger of being treated in such a way that you have no way to say to a judge: I am a citizen.
How can you say to a judge that you are a citizen or not a criminal when you are not even allowed to have that hearing?
Mr. Speaker, I will now move on and yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hoyle).
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for standing up for the rule of law.
Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that, in this country, under our Constitution, no one is above the law, not even the President. Our President, at this very moment, is defying a 9-0 Supreme Court decision.
Tokuda), my colleague from the Aloha State.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Tokuda for her comments.
Chu), my fellow colleague from southern California and good friend.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Chu for bringing to light the story of an individual who has contributed much to his community. I am very disappointed, alarmed, and, frankly, terrified by the actions of this administration.
Representative Garcia, I had not heard the story about your request to the Ambassador to do a welfare check.
This is one picture of Andry Hernandez. I have seen other pictures of him, other photographs. It is hard for, I think, anyone who looks at these photographs to believe that Andry is a dangerous member of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
Here is the other fact that was just mentioned. He has never once been at large in the U.S. territory, any part of the U.S. Government, or the Continental United States. From the very beginning, when he crossed the border, he was in custody. He has never been out of custody. He has never once posed any danger. He arrived with papers that show, from his native Venezuela, that he has no criminal record.
My understanding not only was that he was seeking asylum from Venezuela because of his sexual orientation but also because he would not comply with the authoritarian regime there.
Is that your understanding, as well?
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Garcia for traveling to El Salvador on his own resources and to our colleagues who spent their own resources because this House of Representatives will not do oversight over the overreach of this administration, will not do oversight over the dereliction of constitutional responsibility of this administration, an administration that was defying a 9-0 Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
There is another compelling case we have before us. The 280 other individuals who are in CECOT prison, the government has kept those names secret. The press and others have had to do a lot of sleuthing to identify individuals who have been sent down there. For all we know, there could be citizens among those folks. We don't know because they have never been able to talk to a judge.
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Mr. TAKANO. They have never been able to defend themselves against charges that they are Tren de Aragua criminals or otherwise dangerous criminals.
This is a travesty. I think all Americans should be outraged. All Americans should be afraid for themselves. We have now seen, in just recent days, that we have moved from noncitizens to citizens being sent out of this country.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say that, over the last hour, the American public has heard directly as Members of Congress came to this hallowed floor to talk plainly about the grave constitutional crisis unfolding in our country. We have heard the names Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Andry Hernandez Romero. We have spoken of students taken off streets, court orders cast aside, and a supermax prison that now holds victims of abuse.
These are not isolated incidents. They are evidence of a pattern, a government operating outside the law, outside the Constitution, outside the decision of a Supreme Court that has ruled 9-0 that this administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a government that believes that it can disappear people without charges, ignore the judiciary, and turn the Constitution into a suggestion rather than a safeguard.
Mr. Speaker, this body must exert its collective conscience. This is not who we are, and it must not be who we become. The American people are beginning to wake up. They are hungry for accountability from our government and courage from Congress.
I promise this. This is not the end of our voices. It is only the beginning.
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