Trump Immigration Policies

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Takano for giving me this opportunity to speak about a topic that is really important right now in our country.

Mr. Speaker, there is no issue right now that should concern Americans more than the elimination and destruction of due process, not just now for U.S. citizens but for people who are here whether it is a legal status or because they have been invited to this country to apply for asylum.

I want to go ahead and speak a little bit more about Andry Romero, this young gentleman right here. He is a gay hairstylist and makeup artist who came to the United States with an asylum appointment. The United States Government gave Andry an appointment to show up to the border so that he could claim asylum using our process that we created.

He shows up with his appointment. What happens? He gets interrogated through the process. His initial screening is positive, and then he essentially gets taken at the border from that screening directly to a prison in El Salvador, a country he knows nothing about, in a process that eliminated his right through the court and due process asylum system that we have created in this country.

What kind of America is this where we are doing this to people who are seeking asylum? We are sending them to a foreign prison.

I note that Andry's family describes him as someone who is sweet, kind, and gentle, yet we are sending him to a notorious prison in a very vulnerable position.

I also want to note that an agent said that he has some tattoos. Yes, he has a crown tattoo reflective of a festival back in his home city and state in Venezuela. It has nothing to do with gangs. He has never been convicted of anything to do with gangs.

Because an ICE agent, who was, by the way, a disgraced former police officer, made these claims, Andry is now in a foreign prison, and his family and his lawyers have not heard anything about him in weeks.

I did go to El Salvador to advocate for the release of not just Kilmar, who has been mandated by the Supreme Court to come back, but also for Andry. We told Andry's story to the Ambassador in El Salvador. It was the first time he had heard his story. After the meeting, he made a request to the government in El Salvador to do a welfare check for the first time on Andry.

We have yet to hear anything about how he is doing, his condition, if he is alive, or where he is.

This is a disgrace by President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Secretary Noem, and everyone involved in this process. We demand to know if he is healthy, if he is okay, and where he is, and that he be given the right to come back to the United States so that he can go through the process that we asked him to go through before we kidnapped him and sent him to a prison in El Salvador. We must do better in this country.

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Mr. GARCIA of California. Absolutely. I think that it is a shame that someone fleeing persecution for who they are and then given an appointment by us, the United States, is then sent to a foreign prison.

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Mr. GARCIA of California. That is right.

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