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Toward A More Dignified and Just Immigration System

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 2, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Ms. DEXTER. Mr. Speaker, back-to-school season should be a time of excitement, a time when families pick out backpacks, meet teachers, and look ahead to a year of learning and growth.

However, for the Merlos family, a Portland family, homeowners, businessowners, and vital members of our community, this school year begins in fear and heartbreak.

Jackie Merlos and her four U.S. citizen children were detained by Customs and Border Protection and held for 2 weeks in a windowless cell without access to legal counsel.

After public outcry and a temporary restraining order from a judge, these U.S. citizen children were released from detention, but now they have been separated from their parents who remain in ICE custody.

Let's be clear. This cruelty is not accidental. It is family separation by another name, and it is doing nothing to make our communities safer.

As a mother, a physician, and a lawmaker, I will not stay silent. We need an immigration system rooted in dignity and justice, not fear.

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