Providing for Consideration of H.R. Consolidated Appropriations Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. FLETCHER. Mr. Speaker, as the House considers this rule and the legislation it advances, I rise to remind all who are present in the Chamber, all Members of this body, and every person in this country that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: ``The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.''

Yet, all across America, from Maine to Minnesota to California and everywhere in between, hardworking, law-abiding people in the United States, American citizens, are living in fear of exactly this. They are afraid to go to work, afraid to go to church, afraid to go to school, afraid to go to the hardware store because unidentified, masked agents, often in plain clothes and unmarked cars, are breaking down doors to their homes, are pulling people from their cars, are stopping people on the street, and asking them to show their papers and prove they belong here.

This is not only unconstitutional. It is un-American, and this Congress must do something to stop it. Brave Americans are standing up and saying no all across this country. We have to do that here, we have to do it now, and it starts by voting ``no'' on this rule.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source