The Humanitarian Crisis At the Border

Floor Speech

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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the thousands of immigrant families who have been torn apart at our nation's border. The United States is a country of immigrants with a proud legacy of protecting families fleeing violence and persecution. As a nation, we are a voice for human rights, which is why I was deeply disturbed when news broke that the Trump Administration was ripping innocent children from their parents as their families sought asylum in the United States. I was alarmed when I heard about President Trump's criminal prosecution of all those seeking shelter within our borders. Last weekend, I went to the border with some of my colleagues to see for myself the impact of President Trump's ``zero tolerance'' policy. After seeing detention centers where children are still separated from their parents, after witnessing the immigration courts where asylum seekers are prosecuted en masse, after seeing the inhumane conditions that families are being held in at processing facilities, I can only report that this President's anti-family immigration policy is a disaster. Mr. Speaker, there is a humanitarian crisis happening right in our own backyard.

At one detention facility, my colleagues and I met a grandmother who had brought her grandchildren to the United States, fleeing violence in her home country. They traveled across the Rio Grande by boat and she lost one of her grandchildren on the way. When she reached our shores, she thought she would find refuge, but her remaining grandchildren were taken from her and put into a separate detention facility. After weeks in detention, they still have not been reunited because the process this Administration has put in place only recognizes parents and their children, not grandparents, siblings or relatives as part of the family unit. She told us her story in tears. As someone who grew up close to their grandmother, I can only imagine the pain that she and her grandchildren must feel being separated--after traveling through such horrendous conditions to reach America. In our privilege, it's hard to imagine what conditions this family must have been living in to take that dangerous journey to our shores. My colleagues and I also visited a federal courthouse in McAllen, Texas, where we observed court proceedings for detained immigrants who were seeking asylum in the United States, fleeing violence in their home countries. Instead of recognizing their right of asylum, the court processed these immigrants en masse. These immigrants also pled guilty en masse, setting them on a course to be deported back to the countries they had fled because of violence. So far, over 400 immigrant parents have been deported without their children! How will they find their way home? We met with border patrol officers who told us that their jobs have been complicated by the actions of the Trump Administration. Mr. Speaker, we need to support the law enforcement officers who keep our country safe, but this Administration's ``zero tolerance'' policy has failed them, creating a logistical and human rights nightmare that they do not have the support to solve. This is why I am an original co-sponsor of the Keeping Families Together Act and the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, which provides standards for facilities at which aliens in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security are detained. Additionally, I have cosponsored the Family Unit Right and Protective Act, which requires the reunification of families separated upon entry into the United States because of the ``zero tolerance'' immigration policy requiring criminal prosecution of all adults apprehended crossing the border illegally. The children who have crossed our borders are looking for safety from violence. Instead, they have found cold cages, and concrete floors with aluminum blankets. For many of the families seeking asylum in the United States, crossing the border is the difference between life and death. However, when these families cross our nation's border, we are not a welcoming safe haven in a time of crisis. Instead, we are criminally prosecuting families seeking safe refuge, separating children from parents, and scattering the children across our nation. As a country that was built by immigrants, it is disgraceful how we are treating immigrants at our own border. Therefore, I am urging my colleagues to cosponsor and support the Keeping Families Together Act and the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act. As the global leader in the fight to protect human rights, the United States can and must do better when it comes to the treatment of asylum seekers.

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