January 10, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 6 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page H153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNJUST IRANIAN AMERICAN DETENTIONS

  (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, America is less safe when the words and 
actions of our leaders cast unnecessary suspicion on our fellow 
citizens. America is less safe when families, including children, are 
targeted by government officials based on their ethnicity or by their 
country of origin.
  Reports of unjust, prolonged detentions of Iranian Americans and 
permanent residents at our borders should be alarming to everyone. It 
calls to mind the unjust internment of Japanese Americans during World 
War II.
  My own parents were toddlers in Japanese American internment camps, 
and they, along with 120,000 others, were unjustly incarcerated, having 
committed no crimes or acts of disloyalty.
  What happened to my family was the result of a failure of political 
leadership. All of us in this body have a duty to remain vigilant and 
to defend the dignity of all citizens. To do nothing is to be complicit 
in violating the spirit of our Constitution and the individual 
liberties it guarantees.

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