[Pages H1767-H1772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRUMP IMMIGRATION POLICIES

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Takano 
of California was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the House for a Special 
Order hour with my Congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues. I do so 
on the 100th day of the Trump administration, and I note that this is a 
day when we received the news that our economy has contracted and that 
we are witnessing confusion, chaos in our markets, and uncertainty 
about our economic future.
  We can also mark this day by stating that our country is in the midst 
of a constitutional crisis.
  The administration is disappearing individuals without due process in 
defiance of court orders. They are ripping people from their homes and 
communities, putting them on secretive flights, and sending them 
overseas, including more than 280 individuals sent to the brutal CECOT 
prison in El Salvador without so much as a hearing.
  The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the administration must 
facilitate the return of one such man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland 
father, but the executive branch has ignored the highest Court in the 
land, saying that their own views matter more.
  Just last night, the President of the United States admitted in a 
public interview that he could return Mr. Abrego Garcia if he wanted 
to, but he is choosing not to. He has openly mused about sending 
American citizens to El Salvador next because it always starts with 
those without power, the most vulnerable, but it never ends there, and 
that should terrify every American.
  I want to take the opportunity to draw attention to another case that 
has captured the public conscience, that of Andry Jose Hernandez 
Romero, a 31-year-old gay Venezuelan makeup artist and asylum seeker 
who was forcibly disappeared without due process.
  Andry entered the United States legally, fleeing persecution for his 
sexual orientation and political beliefs. He passed an initial asylum 
screening and had no criminal record. Yet, without warning or due 
process, he was forcibly removed to El Salvador and imprisoned in the 
notorious CECOT facility.
  What is the evidence against him? A couple of crown tattoos above the 
names ``Mom'' and ``Dad,'' symbols of his love for his hometown's Three 
Kings Day celebrations.
  Andry's case exemplifies the dangers of unchecked executive power and 
what happens when the rule of law is pushed aside.
  I call on President Trump to free Andry.
  There are so many others to talk about: students who have been 
snatched off the streets, young American citizens kicked out without so 
much as a hearing, and the list goes on and on.
  I want to be clear that this is not just about immigrants. This is 
bigger than that. If the government can violate the Constitution with 
impunity in these cases, then it can do so anywhere to anyone.
  To the Americans listening at home, I ask you: How would you feel if 
masked men grabbed you in broad daylight and refused to show their ID? 
I know I would be terrified, and I bet you would be, too.
  Today, we will hear from a number of my Congressional Progressive 
Caucus colleagues as we bring a spotlight to these injustices.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Escobar).
  Ms. ESCOBAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Takano for yielding. I am so 
grateful for his leadership and for bringing us together on the House 
floor to talk about what is happening here in our country every day.
  Americans are sounding the alarm about the crisis that our country is 
in. It is not just an economic crisis, as we see our country sinking 
very quickly into an economic crisis, which is being reflected in 
Donald Trump's poll numbers. In fact, his sinking poll numbers are even 
being reflected in the issue that many consider to be his strong suit 
with the American people, which is immigration.
  Americans are now realizing that Donald Trump's anti-immigrant 
policies are targeting everyone in our country, including U.S. 
citizens.
  When Donald Trump eliminates due process for immigrants, whether it 
is

[[Page H1768]]

for legal immigrants or students who are here with legitimate visas, he 
is impacting due process for all of us.
  When Donald Trump ignores an order from the Supreme Court to bring 
back a wrongfully deported immigrant, he is violating the rule of law, 
which impacts all of us.
  Mr. Speaker, when Donald Trump sends immigrants to a gulag in a 
foreign country, believe him when he tells you that he will be doing 
this to U.S. citizens next. In fact, he has already begun deporting 
U.S. citizen children.
  Just today, in the House Judiciary Committee, as the Judiciary 
Committee was marking up the reconciliation package, which, 
unfortunately, many Republicans will just blindly approve, Judiciary 
Committee Republicans refused to protect U.S. citizens from 
deportation.
  It is shocking, I know.
  Here is the thing: We can have strong border security and a fair and 
humane immigration system that works for our Nation. That is not what 
Donald Trump is doing. He is acting like a tyrant, and he will keep 
undermining our democracy, our country, and the rule of law as long as 
compliant Republicans allow him to.
  Will there be just four Republicans who will stand with us and their 
constituents to protect the Constitution, the rule of law, and law and 
order in this country? I hope so.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Escobar for her 
comments.
  I am outraged to hear that Republicans on the Judiciary Committee 
would not protect citizens from deportation. We are talking about 
citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Ramirez).

                              {time}  1900

  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, fascism always demands a public enemy. 
Through lies and scapegoating, the Trump administration has tried to 
make immigrants the enemy. They have tried to convince us that the 
problem isn't their abuses of power or the unchecked greed of 
multinational corporations but it is immigrants.
  In their 100 days in office, the Trump administration and Noem, the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, have abused the power of the Department 
of Homeland Security to pursue a campaign of persecution, of mass 
incarceration, and of deportation.
  Day after day, they have disregarded the authority of Congress, the 
laws of the land, and the constitutional rights of residents, the 
courts, due process, and every check and balance that protects us from 
fascist authoritarians.
  No one has been spared from their abusive authoritarian assault, not 
United States citizens, children with cancer, not pregnant women, not 
fathers with legal residency, not organ donors, not student activists, 
not professors, not green card holders, not asylees, not DACA 
recipients.
  Trump and Noem have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in their 
criminal acts from a $200 million anti-immigrant ad campaign to $46 
million paid to illegally detain people in offshore prisons to more 
than $300 million to militarize and end parole and due process at our 
borders. There is no end to how they will abuse their power, and we 
have to say: Enough.
  As I demanded yesterday in the Homeland Security Committee, Noem must 
step down. We can't give one more dollar to this administration to 
continue its unconstitutional, anti-immigrant, authoritarian agenda.
  I will close with this: Today, Trump, Noem, and the administration 
have made the immigrants the enemy. Tomorrow, it will be whoever they 
deem undesirable.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ramirez for standing 
up for the rule of law.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter.)
  Mr. CARTER of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great concern 
regarding our First and Fifth Amendment rights. Our constitutionally 
guaranteed freedom of speech and right to due process are under attack 
by the Musk-Trump administration.
  You don't have to like what someone says philosophically, 
politically, or otherwise, but free speech is not based on what you 
like or dislike or choose to hear or not hear; it is based on one's 
ability to express themselves. It is not conditioned on what you like 
to hear. Free speech is free speech.
  We will not stand by while they violate the principles that form the 
bedrock of our democracy. Right now, this administration is defying a 
Supreme Court decision that ordered them to facilitate the return of an 
individual who was deported without due process. Alongside others, he 
was sent to an inhumane prison in a different country without a 
hearing. This happened in the United States, violating his right to due 
process. There are many individuals whose stories deserve to be told, 
so today I am going to highlight just a few.
  Last week, I led a bicameral codel to two ICE detention facilities in 
Louisiana where Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Wendy Brito are 
being held.
  Mahmoud Khalil is a lawful permanent resident and Columbia graduate 
student who was detained because of his participation in a peaceful 
protest. I had an opportunity to sit and visit with him. He said, 
without fear of contradiction: I am not anti-Semitic. I am not pro-
Hamas. I am simply concerned about my homeland and the treatment of the 
people that are there.
  Rumeysa Ozturk is a Ph.D. student detained because she wrote an op-ed 
in her school newspaper.
  Wendy Brito, a mother of three U.S. citizens, who may one day be U.S. 
Senators. A U.S. citizen right here on our homeland, was deported 
without giving her due process. Her lawyer was in the waiting room. 
They would not let her have access to the lawyer. Then they added 
insult to injury by saying she signed a waiver.
  Who and what mother would not say, when asked: Do you want your 
children to go with you versus being with some strangers would not opt 
for that first option?
  Ms. Brito simply said: What are you going to do with my children? 
They said: Well, they can go with you. As a father, I would have made 
the same decision, but her lawyer was in the other room begging for an 
opportunity to stand in, and they would not give him or her an 
opportunity to do so.
  Arresting people who are in this country legally--people whose only 
crimes have been to exercise their right to free speech--is an assault 
on our civil liberties and our Constitution.
  An attack on these individuals is an attack on all of us. Who is to 
say what this ruthless administration will do next or who they will do 
it to? Will it be your family member, your friend, or a coworker who is 
taken without cause?
  I am reminded of a quote from Angela Davis: ``If they come for me in 
the morning, they will come for you in the night.''
  We must all stick together and fight for the rights of our great 
country, this great Constitution, the First Amendment right of free 
speech, and the Fifth Amendment right of due process. We must continue 
speaking up and fighting back against these tyrants and preserve our 
Constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if you found this funny or if you are 
laughing at a joke that is on your phone, but this is serious business, 
sir.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for his 
principled remarks about the importance of the rule of law in our 
country and his enunciating that political dissent in our country is 
not a crime.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Ansari).
  Ms. ANSARI. Mr. Speaker, last week, I traveled to El Salvador, along 
with three of my colleagues, to see firsthand the chaos unleashed by 
the Trump administration through its unconstitutional and illegal 
deportations of U.S. residents to third-party countries.

  I represent a beautifully diverse district in which 64 languages are 
spoken and where families of immigrants like mine thrive. I have heard 
more about this issue from my constituents than any other during my 
time in Congress.
  In El Salvador, we met with the U.S. Ambassador and demanded that the 
Trump administration facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in 
compliance with the 9-0, unanimous Supreme Court decision of the United 
States and the lower Federal court judges.
  Mr. Abrego Garcia and many other wrongfully deported individuals were

[[Page H1769]]

sent to El Salvador with no due process and no legal recourse just for 
being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  It is outrageous and indefensible that the Trump administration 
continues to defy a Supreme Court ruling to return this man to his 
family. In fact, it is a full-blown constitutional crisis.
  There are other people--including Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a 
makeup artist and legal asylum seeker, and Merwil Gutierrez, a teenager 
who was mistakenly picked up by immigration enforcement--languishing in 
El Salvador.
  Now, the Trump administration is admitting to deporting a 2-year-old 
U.S. citizen with cancer. It is cruel, it is despicable, and it is 
totally illegal, no matter what Stephen Miller or Tom Homan may say.
  These cases are not just about these specific people or children sent 
on planes to foreign prisons by the U.S. Government. Our entire system 
of justice hinges on the rights afforded to us by the Constitution, the 
rights of due process, access to legal representation, and the ability 
to be heard in a court of law.
  It is a dark day for our democracy when the Federal Government 
snatches people off of the streets, flies them out of the country 
secretly in the dead of night, and sends them to a foreign prison to be 
detained indefinitely with no legal recourse or chance to prove their 
case.
  Who is to say that it couldn't be you or me next? I will continue to 
speak out for due process and our constitutional rights.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Ansari. I want to 
thank her for traveling with three other of our colleagues to El 
Salvador last week. I know that she traveled at her own expense. I am 
very proud that we have members of this caucus who care so deeply about 
people who have been treated so unjustly. Nobody should be disappeared 
out of our country without habeas corpus hearings.
  I also thank Representative Carter for his efforts, along with, I 
believe, other Members of Congress to visit the graduate students held 
in a New Orleans jail.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar).
  Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I am here today as a Representative of a 
community that is deeply alarmed by the actions of this administration.
  Just weeks ago, the Trump administration defied a unanimous--we 
didn't think this was possible--but a unanimous Supreme Court order by 
refusing to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland 
father wrongfully deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. 
Despite the Court's clear directive, the administration continues to 
ignore the rule of law, undermining the very foundation of our 
democracy.
  In my own district, the situation is equally troubling. A graduate 
student at the University of Minnesota was detained by ICE agents 
without warning. Despite having no involvement in political activism, 
he was taken from his home, held without immediate explanation, and had 
his visa retroactively revoked. This action not only disturbed his 
education but also instilled fear in our academic community.
  These are not isolated incidents. Across the country, people are 
being detained and deported without due process, often based on tenuous 
and/or unverified allegations.
  The administration's use of obscure laws, like the Alien Enemies Act 
of 1798, to justify these actions is a blatant abuse of power. We must 
ask ourselves: If the rights of noncitizens can be so easily 
disregarded, whose rights will be next?
  Our Constitution guarantees due process and equal protection under 
the law to everyone in this country, not just citizens. If the 
government can silence you, detain you, or deport you while defying 
court orders, then none of our rights are safe. If we let this slide, 
we are saying the Constitution is optional. It is not.
  What we are seeing is authoritarianism creeping in through the 
backdoor, one ignored ruling at a time.
  My colleagues and I are ready to fight back with everything we have 
got.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, the sign behind me says ``9-0.'' ``9-0'' is 
the order of the Supreme Court. They ruled 9-0 that Kilmar Abrego 
Garcia must be brought back or must be facilitated back into the 
country. This 9-0 Supreme Court order is being defied by the President. 
No one in our country, no person, no man, is above the law.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. 
Randall).

                              {time}  1915

  Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
leading us in this Special Order hour today.
  Mr. Speaker, fear, anger, terror, sadness, these are the emotions 
that just scratch the surface of what my community and our immigrant 
neighbors are feeling. Why should we expect anything less? This is 
exactly what this administration wants: to force immigrants into the 
shadows, to break their spirit, and to disrupt our communities.
  When you come for immigrants, you come for small businesses. When you 
come for immigrants, you come for our farmworkers and for our fish 
processors. When you come for immigrants, you come for nurses, doctors, 
and caregivers. When you come for immigrants, you come for the very 
identity of what makes this country America.
  Last week, I met with immigrants' rights advocates and toured the 
Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. The detainee population has 
doubled in the last few months. The average time detained has extended. 
Discretionary releases are now uncommon, even for detainees without 
violent criminal records. Folks are being detained and disappeared for 
nothing more than political speech.
  Mr. Speaker, what this visit reaffirmed for me is that any 
immigration policy rooted in hate and fueled by chaos doesn't make our 
immigration system more efficient or safe; it overwhelms the system. We 
don't fix a broken system by breaking people.
  Most of our origin stories, even as Members of the House in this 
body, begin as immigration stories. It is past time that all of us 
remember that.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Rivas).
  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.

[[Page H1770]]

  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.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Rivas for her 
comments and bringing to light the tragic stories of children who are 
citizens with cancer being deported from our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Takano for bringing us 
together this evening for a very important discussion.
  Kilmar, Andry, Jefferson, Kevin: a devoted father married to an 
American citizen, a makeup artist who faced persecution in his home 
country because he is gay, a man with a valid work authorization and 
pending asylum hearing, and a son of a government worker attacked for 
his opposition to a corrupt regime.
  These are just a few of the hundreds of men who have been sent to a 
foreign prison with conditions so inhumane that El Salvador's Justice 
Minister has said that the only way out is in a coffin.
  These men came to our country, in many cases through approved legal 
pathways, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. In 
response, we sent them to another country without any due process to be 
abused and tortured, and we are paying that government $6 million to do 
so.
  These are not deportations, but they are government-enforced 
disappearances. They are illegal. They are horrific. They are the 
tactics of a dictatorship, not a democracy.
  We cannot let them get away with this. This is the red line that they 
cannot be allowed to cross.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Tonko for his 
comments. I agree with the gentleman. This is a red line that cannot be 
crossed. We cannot permit a President to defy a 9-0 order of the 
Supreme Court. No person and no man is above the law.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson 
Coleman), my tremendous colleague.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Takano for 
holding this Special Order. This is very important.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the Trump administration is 
carrying out a campaign of reckless cruelty with zero accountability.
  Last week, the home of a woman from Oklahoma was mistakenly targeted 
by ICE agents. They broke into her home, forced her and her children 
outside at gunpoint in their underwear, and proceeded to ransack their 
home.
  The people who ICE were looking for didn't even live there, but that 
didn't stop them from traumatizing the current residents, confiscating 
their life savings, and fleeing the scene without leaving any contact 
information or instructions for how this innocent family could get 
their belongings back, including their money.
  More recently, over the past weekend, we learned that Trump 
administration's police deported a 4-year-old American citizen who has 
stage IV cancer, and then they lied about it. On Monday, Trump's 
deportation czar claimed that the child's mother chose to bring her son 
with her when she was deported without any kind of due process.
  Let me be clear. That is another boldface lie. The truth is that this 
woman did what any mom would do when faced with such a terrifying 
situation. She tried desperately to protect her child. She pled with 
the Trump's deportation police to let her contact her family to arrange 
care for her son and make sure that he keeps receiving the medical 
treatment that he desperately needs.
  Yet, Trump's police said: No. They denied this basic right. They 
would not let her call her family, nor her lawyer. As a result, her son 
no longer has access to his lifesaving cancer treatment.
  It is a confounding degree of evil that we are dealing with in the 
Trump administration and this Republican-controlled Congress that fails 
to find its spine and do the right thing for the people of this 
country.
  I truly cannot comprehend the heartlessness that is required to do 
these things like this, and I am praying for all of the victims of this 
administration's campaign of terror in my country.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Watson Coleman for 
informing the Nation about what happened earlier today with that family 
in Oklahoma.
  It strikes me that we are witnessing this evolution of this 
administration's policies that began with: We are just going to deport 
criminals.
  It then evolved into disappearing people without hearings and 
claiming that the people they were disappearing were criminals, 
dangerous criminals, members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
  They admitted that there were mistakes made, but now we are seeing 
actual children who are citizens being spirited out of the country. 
This ought to be concerning to all Americans. It is not about them 
anymore. It is about us. It is about every single person who is in 
danger of being treated in such a way that you have no way to say to a 
judge: I am a citizen.
  How can you say to a judge that you are a citizen or not a criminal 
when you are not even allowed to have that hearing?
  Mr. Speaker, I will now move on and yield to the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Hoyle).
  Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, when we took office, we swore an oath to support and 
defend the Constitution. It was a promise to the American people that 
we would uphold the law, protect their rights, and defend our 
democracy.
  Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living legally in the United States, 
was wrongfully disappeared to a horrific prison in El Salvador because 
of an administrative error.
  This week, U.S. citizens in Oklahoma were dragged out of their home 
while ICE agents, with no warrant for them, took their phones, laptops, 
and life savings, even though they weren't the suspects in question.
  One of the most basic rights guaranteed in our Constitution is the 
right to due process. The Due Process Clause in the Fifth Amendment and 
14th Amendment demands that you cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or 
property without the due process of law. That means a fair hearing, a 
chance to be heard, and a chance to defend yourself in court. That is 
the standard.
  Mr. Speaker, our immigration system is broken, and I will work with 
anyone in a bipartisan way to fix it. Yet, that is not what is 
happening here.
  Weaponizing fears and frustrations as a justification for interning 
innocent people in a foreign prison is unacceptable and 
unconstitutional. Everyone deserves due process in court with evidence 
beyond a reasonable doubt. If we don't defend these rights now, who is 
next: our neighbor, our family, or us?
  Affording due process is not being soft on crime. It is the very 
foundation of American justice to ensure that the rights enshrined in 
our Constitution are guaranteed, as the Founders intended. Standing up 
for the Constitution is not partisan. It is patriotic. It is our duty, 
and we need to do it.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for standing up for 
the rule of law.
  Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that, in this country, under our 
Constitution, no one is above the law, not even the President. Our 
President, at this very moment, is defying a 9-0 Supreme Court 
decision.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda), my 
colleague from the Aloha State.
  Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to 
President Trump's unlawful and unjust deportations to El Salvador.
  Earlier this year, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act, 
an 18th century wartime statute, to deport 137 Venezuelan men to a 
notorious prison abroad. This archaic law is being exploited to bypass 
our immigration system and deny individuals their most basic legal 
protections.

[[Page H1771]]

  


                              {time}  1930

  These deportations were not based on convictions or due process. They 
are based on ancestry and suspicions--tattoos misidentified, 
affiliations assumed, rights ignored.
  The Supreme Court affirmed, by a 7-2 majority, these people deserve 
due process under our Constitution.
  For me and for Representative Takano, this strikes painfully close to 
home.
  During World War II, the same law was used to imprison over 120,000 
Japanese Americans, including our families. My great-grandfather was 
taken from his home, incarcerated without cause, solely because of his 
ethnicity.
  Now, we are seeing the same injustice unfold again. In communities 
like Kona, Hawaii, a child was taken from his elementary school 
classroom. Families are taken from their homes, and people live in 
fear. Children miss school. Parents avoid lifesaving care and their 
doctors. Faith communities grow quiet, not because of guilt but because 
of government overreach.
  Let us be clear. These individuals are our neighbors, workers, 
students, and friends. They deserve dignity and due process, not 
detention and deportation.
  Sending people to foreign prisons without a trial, without rights, 
and without hope is not only unconstitutional. It is un-American, and 
it must stop.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to honor the oath we all took in 
this very Chamber to uphold the Constitution, protect due process, and 
defend the values that define our Nation.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Tokuda for her 
comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu), my 
fellow colleague from southern California and good friend.
  Ms. CHU. Mr. Speaker, this administration has thrown out the 
Constitution and asserted that the President has king-like power to 
arrest anybody in this country and deport them, even to a foreign 
prison for life, with no due process.
  Days ago, we learned they deported a 4-year-old child with stage IV 
cancer and a 2-year-old American citizen.
  We know that they are now going after Southeast Asian refugees from 
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. They came here due to the U.S. depending 
on them as allies during the Vietnam war.
  This was the case with Chanthon Bun, who fled to the U.S. with his 
family to escape the Cambodian genocide. Like many refugees, Bun found 
himself in an impoverished community and struggled to acclimate. He 
later fell in with the wrong crowd and made a mistake as a teenager. 
Bun has since served his time, and once granted parole, he has become a 
leader in his community.
  In Trump's eyes, Bun's rehabilitation doesn't matter. Trump is now 
detaining and deporting Southeast Asian refugees who have had pauses on 
their deportation orders for decades and are deeply tied to their 
communities. Mr. Speaker, 15,000 of these refugees have deportation 
orders and are now being deported as they do the right thing and report 
for their ICE check-ins.
  We will not stand for it. I will soon be reintroducing the Southeast 
Asian Deportation Relief Act, which would prevent the administration 
from deporting these refugees to countries where they have often never 
lived and ensure that those who have already been deported can return 
home to the U.S.
  If the Trump administration can disappear immigrants to other 
countries without due process or deport refugees to places they have no 
memories of, we are all in danger.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Chu for bringing to 
light the story of an individual who has contributed much to his 
community. I am very disappointed, alarmed, and, frankly, terrified by 
the actions of this administration.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield time to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Garcia), also a fellow Californian, a longtime friend of mine, and 
somebody who I admire for his courage and initiative in leading a 
recent delegation of four Members of Congress to the country of El 
Salvador.
  Mr. GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Takano for giving 
me this opportunity to speak about a topic that is really important 
right now in our country.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no issue right now that should concern 
Americans more than the elimination and destruction of due process, not 
just now for U.S. citizens but for people who are here whether it is a 
legal status or because they have been invited to this country to apply 
for asylum.
  I want to go ahead and speak a little bit more about Andry Romero, 
this young gentleman right here. He is a gay hairstylist and makeup 
artist who came to the United States with an asylum appointment. The 
United States Government gave Andry an appointment to show up to the 
border so that he could claim asylum using our process that we created.
  He shows up with his appointment. What happens? He gets interrogated 
through the process. His initial screening is positive, and then he 
essentially gets taken at the border from that screening directly to a 
prison in El Salvador, a country he knows nothing about, in a process 
that eliminated his right through the court and due process asylum 
system that we have created in this country.
  What kind of America is this where we are doing this to people who 
are seeking asylum? We are sending them to a foreign prison.
  I note that Andry's family describes him as someone who is sweet, 
kind, and gentle, yet we are sending him to a notorious prison in a 
very vulnerable position.
  I also want to note that an agent said that he has some tattoos. Yes, 
he has a crown tattoo reflective of a festival back in his home city 
and state in Venezuela. It has nothing to do with gangs. He has never 
been convicted of anything to do with gangs.
  Because an ICE agent, who was, by the way, a disgraced former police 
officer, made these claims, Andry is now in a foreign prison, and his 
family and his lawyers have not heard anything about him in weeks.

  I did go to El Salvador to advocate for the release of not just 
Kilmar, who has been mandated by the Supreme Court to come back, but 
also for Andry. We told Andry's story to the Ambassador in El Salvador. 
It was the first time he had heard his story. After the meeting, he 
made a request to the government in El Salvador to do a welfare check 
for the first time on Andry.
  We have yet to hear anything about how he is doing, his condition, if 
he is alive, or where he is.
  This is a disgrace by President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Secretary 
Noem, and everyone involved in this process. We demand to know if he is 
healthy, if he is okay, and where he is, and that he be given the right 
to come back to the United States so that he can go through the process 
that we asked him to go through before we kidnapped him and sent him to 
a prison in El Salvador. We must do better in this country.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Garcia) for the purpose of a colloquy.
  Representative Garcia, I had not heard the story about your request 
to the Ambassador to do a welfare check.
  This is one picture of Andry Hernandez. I have seen other pictures of 
him, other photographs. It is hard for, I think, anyone who looks at 
these photographs to believe that Andry is a dangerous member of the 
Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
  Here is the other fact that was just mentioned. He has never once 
been at large in the U.S. territory, any part of the U.S. Government, 
or the Continental United States. From the very beginning, when he 
crossed the border, he was in custody. He has never been out of 
custody. He has never once posed any danger. He arrived with papers 
that show, from his native Venezuela, that he has no criminal record.
  My understanding not only was that he was seeking asylum from 
Venezuela because of his sexual orientation but also because he would 
not comply with the authoritarian regime there.
  Is that your understanding, as well?
  Mr. GARCIA of California. Absolutely. I think that it is a shame that 
someone fleeing persecution for who they are and then given an 
appointment by us, the United States, is then sent to a foreign prison.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Garcia for traveling to El 
Salvador on his own resources and to our colleagues who spent their own 
resources

[[Page H1772]]

because this House of Representatives will not do oversight over the 
overreach of this administration, will not do oversight over the 
dereliction of constitutional responsibility of this administration, an 
administration that was defying a 9-0 Supreme Court order to facilitate 
the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
  There is another compelling case we have before us. The 280 other 
individuals who are in CECOT prison, the government has kept those 
names secret. The press and others have had to do a lot of sleuthing to 
identify individuals who have been sent down there. For all we know, 
there could be citizens among those folks. We don't know because they 
have never been able to talk to a judge.
  Mr. GARCIA of California. That is right.
  Mr. TAKANO. They have never been able to defend themselves against 
charges that they are Tren de Aragua criminals or otherwise dangerous 
criminals.
  This is a travesty. I think all Americans should be outraged. All 
Americans should be afraid for themselves. We have now seen, in just 
recent days, that we have moved from noncitizens to citizens being sent 
out of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say that, over the last hour, the American 
public has heard directly as Members of Congress came to this hallowed 
floor to talk plainly about the grave constitutional crisis unfolding 
in our country. We have heard the names Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Andry 
Hernandez Romero. We have spoken of students taken off streets, court 
orders cast aside, and a supermax prison that now holds victims of 
abuse.
  These are not isolated incidents. They are evidence of a pattern, a 
government operating outside the law, outside the Constitution, outside 
the decision of a Supreme Court that has ruled 9-0 that this 
administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 
government that believes that it can disappear people without charges, 
ignore the judiciary, and turn the Constitution into a suggestion 
rather than a safeguard.
  Mr. Speaker, this body must exert its collective conscience. This is 
not who we are, and it must not be who we become. The American people 
are beginning to wake up. They are hungry for accountability from our 
government and courage from Congress.
  I promise this. This is not the end of our voices. It is only the 
beginning.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
engaging in personalities toward the President.

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