Trump Immigration Policies

Floor Speech

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Ms. RIVAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Takano for recognizing me and for hosting this important discussion in front of the American people.

Our country was founded on the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but who are we as a country if we backtrack on those founding values? We would not be the country that inspired our parents, our neighbors, and our grandparents to make a dangerous and brave journey in the hopes that their children will have a better life than they did.

Everyone has a story that they can relate. Mine is about my mother, who emigrated from Mexico in the 1960s. She raised me and my sister on her own, taking multiple jobs to make ends meet. It was not until the late 1980s when she finally got her green card. She was so happy, and I remember feeling relieved because she was safe and could live in this country without fear.

Today, that fear has returned. Donald Trump is blatantly pushing aside the Constitution and the rule of law to deport anybody at will. I am here because I am fighting for my mother and many like her who came to this country in search of a better life. I am fighting so our immigrant communities can, once and for all, live without fear that their livelihoods would be taken away at a moment's notice.

I am fighting with my Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus colleagues against this administration's attempts to strip away a person's right to due process.

Donald Trump is criminalizing people like Abrego Garcia and denying him his due process. Yet, it is not just Abrego Garcia. This administration is also deporting children.

Last week, this administration deported a 2-year-old child and a 4- year-old child who are battling stage IV cancer, both of whom are U.S. citizens. What is happening to Garcia and these children is a travesty, and they need to come home.

Sending them without due process to countries like El Salvador and Honduras is a shameful assault on our human rights and a betrayal of the ideals that our country was founded on.

His policies are also unpopular across the country, and the polling proves it. After 100 days, Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any President in at least the past 80 years. The American people see through his cruelty, and they are with us.

We need to confront the cruelty from this administration head on and seek justice for all of those who have been unfairly targeted.

I stand united with my colleagues in stopping this administration and holding this President accountable for his actions.

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