Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I stand today in opposition to this Homeland Security appropriations bill.

I want to be very clear. The bill that passed out of committee had protections for U.S. citizens against what we are seeing playing out in Minnesota and other American cities. During our debate in the House Appropriations Committee, I successfully amended the bill to include language that would prevent ICE from apprehending and deporting U.S. citizens. When the bill was reported out of committee, it included my amendment.

However, during negotiations, I was told that the White House, Stephen Miller in particular, stripped my amendment from the bill. This means that Donald Trump does not want to protect U.S. citizens.

Let that sink in, Mr. Speaker.

Donald Trump does not want U.S. citizens protected from being detained and deported by ICE.

The Trump agenda has never been about apprehending and deporting the worst of the worst. Their own statistics prove that. Their stories reported by journalists on the ground prove that, and eyewitness and firsthand accounts prove that.

U.S. citizens, alongside lawful immigrants and members of vibrant communities, including children as young as 5 years old, are being targeted by ICE and Border Patrol in the kinds of abuses many of us never believed would happen in America: indiscriminate stops on the streets, racial profiling, people dragged from their cars and their homes, legal observers physically assaulted for documenting abuses, theft and destruction of property, and people being killed by agents.

Violations of law, violations of the Constitution, and violations of civil rights are happening here in America at the hands of the American Government, specifically, the Department of Homeland Security. This cannot stand.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``no.''

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