End Cruel Immigration Enforcement Against Kids

Floor Speech

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Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has unleashed a cruelty that really knows no limits.

Trump's ICE agents have beaten, tear-gassed, and murdered innocent people. They have wrongfully detained and deported U.S. citizens, but nothing demonstrates the cruelty of this administration more than the way that they have treated children, children, as we have heard today.

There has been a sixfold increase in the daily number of children in ICE detention under Trump. these are children like Liam Conejo Ramos, the little boy in the blue hat who was detained on his walk home from school and sent to the Dilley Family Detention center, or children like Susej, a 9-year-old detained at Dilley, who, in a letter released by ProPublica, wrote: ``I miss my school and my friends. . . . I have been here too long.'' She is a 9-year-old girl.

My wife and I have two daughters, and the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 127 that children are a blessing. They are not a burden. They are a blessing. I can tell you for a fact that our children have been a blessing. I remember my girls putting on little hats. I remember how much they loved those little hats. Those memories are etched in my heart.

I think every parent, when they saw that little boy with the blue hat, remembered their child and said: How can we be doing this in our own country? What an immorality and what an injustice this is. Yet, we do it, and we do it every day.

These children have been held captive in detention and are missing their friends. They are falling behind at school and facing deplorable conditions, as we have heard today. Their health and wellness are deteriorating.

It is just not detention. Kids across the country are struggling under the constant threat of ICE. Children are being wrongfully deported. They deserve better.

We will never forget the nightmare this administration has inflicted on children across our country. It is going to leave an indelible mark, an evil mark. We must hold this administration and ICE accountable. We cannot accept anything less. Remember our own children.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that I have many friends on the other side, and I cherish their friendship. I pray with them on Thursdays. I know they love children. I know they love their own children. Yet, to allow this to happen is immoral, it is a crime, and we have to do something about this together.

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