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Floor Speech
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Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, President Trump has been in office for 113 days. On nearly every one of those days, he has announced another very dangerous attack on the Constitution and on our system of justice.
The recent shocking news that the administration plans to deport migrants to Libya--a country that is in chaos, where the prisons are a version of hell--is just a recent example.
I hate to say this, but it is true. It is not just what the Trump administration does; it is the cavalier cruelty by which the administration does it. That cruelty is described in heart-wrenching detail by the Washington Post in a recent article entitled ``Trump's 48-hour scramble to fly migrants to a Salvadoran prison.''
The article describes the Trump administration officials who, in their rush to deport a million migrants, have knowingly and flagrantly trampled on the rights of people who are in this country legally--in this country legally.
The Post reviewed court records and conducted interviews of more than 50 men who are believed to be held at the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, in El Salvador. The Post found:
[D]espite the administration's claims, many of the immigrants sent to El Salvador had entered the United States legally and were actively complying with U.S. immigration rules.
The review by the Post also found:
At least two of the men imprisoned in El Salvador had been approved--
Approved-- by the State Department to resettle as refugees in the United States after [very] extensive vetting by federal law enforcement authorities. . . . At least four had protections against removal through temporary protected status . . . granted to those fleeing Venezuela's humanitarian crisis. . . . Others had been active members of Venezuela's opposition and had open asylum claims.
In other words, these were folks who were friends of freedom. Suddenly, without producing any credible evidence, they are now called ``terrorists''--no new evidence.
Prisoners at CECOT--they are abandoned, they are lost, and they are forgotten. They have no access to family or lawyers, no semblance of due process to prove their innocence, and no idea when they will be released, if they will ever be released.
According to the Post article, Secretary of State Rubio told Bukele that the migrant prisoners would remain there for a year ``or until a determination concerning their long-term disposition is made.'' No end in sight. It is a very chilling statement.
The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the White House Press Secretary repeatedly referred to these migrants as ``the worst of the worst'' terrorists and criminals. These are folks who were here legally, following the rules.
Multiple investigations have determined that many of the migrants sent to CECOT in El Salvador literally have never been charged, let alone convicted of anything. The administration's own lawyers have acknowledged this.
According to the Washington Post report, U.S. officials have refused to provide the names of those who were sent to CECOT. So our government has picked up people, spirited them away to El Salvador, and won't even disclose the identity of the people who were arrested and deported.
The Washington Post asked three El Salvadoran officials for the identities of deportees who were sent there but received absolutely no response. That is why lawyers and journalists have described CECOT as a Kafkaesque dungeon. Once someone is led in chains through those iron gates, he is as good as disappeared forever.
One person the Trump administration disappeared to El Salvador was Andry Hernandez. He is a 31-year-old makeup artist. He left Venezuela to escape persecution, partly because of his sexual orientation, for which he was persecuted, and his political views, for which he was persecuted.
Andry opposed the Maduro regime. He did not cross the border illegally. He went to Mexico. He obtained an appointment--according to the rules--for an asylum interview. He had an interview, and he was found to have a credible fear of persecution. So he did everything right. Now we see photographs of Andry in CECOT, and they are gut- wrenching. He cries for his mother as guards slap him and forcibly shave his head. He yells out:
I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a stylist.
The photos also show our government's alleged evidence for sending Andry to CECOT: tattoos of crowns, which are a symbol of a religious festival for Three Kings Day and have nothing to do with any gang- related activity.
The Trump administration officials have openly praised El Salvador's President Bukele for receiving these migrants. He is a man who proudly calls himself a dictator--and he is. His rubberstamp legislature and the judiciary caved in to him and allowed him to circumvent their own constitution and run for a second term. Then he imposed a state of emergency, empowering him to arrest and imprison anyone without charge--indefinitely.
The Trump administration officials have no qualms about paying millions of dollars to President Bukele to jail these migrants, who include folks who were here in this country legally.
The Washington Post article describes the Trump administration scrambling to arrest hundreds of people like Andry, often at their places of employment. And President Trump is then having them secretly and quickly often deported to El Salvador before the courts can even provide a hearing.
Amid these rampant violations of fundamental due process, the administration continues to just dis the Federal courts. And according to a Justice Department spokesperson, ``Activist judges do not have jurisdiction to seize control of the President's authority to conduct foreign policy, remove dangerous illegal aliens from our country, and keep Americans safe.''
This has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the rule of law and the role of the judiciary in our frame of government.
Multiple judges, by the way, appointed by Republicans and Democrats, including President Trump, have ruled against the administration's efforts to forcibly deport people without any hearing whatsoever. And, by the way, how does forcibly disappearing somebody like Andry Hernandez Romero make us more safe?
Just last week, a Federal judge appointed by President Trump blocked the administration from summarily removing migrants in South Texas under a bogus assertion of the application of the Alien Enemies Act. This should not be happening in this country, and it shouldn't be happening in El Salvador. It should not happen in Libya. It should not happen anywhere.
Laws matter. Due process matters. Justice matters. How we treat other human beings says more about us than it says about them.
It was Nelson Mandela who said:
No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but the lowest ones.
The Trump administration has made a clear decision to disrespect our laws, to disregard the rights of citizens and individuals who are entitled to due process, and to do it in a way that is cruel and disrespectful of the United States and its commitment to freedom and the rule of law.
Our Supreme Court has ruled that all people, including migrants, are entitled to due process, to an opportunity to rebut allegations against them before being deported. The Trump administration attack is not just on the rights of these individuals, but it really goes to the core of principles and practices established in law that are the foundation of our democracy. And it threatens, therefore, the rights and privileges of all American citizens.
I stand here on behalf of Vermonters who are appalled by this action. I stand here as a Member of the U.S. Senate who believes it is my responsibility, in the face of these Trump actions, to stand up for the rights of people to have a hearing, to have a right to be brought before a magistrate or a judge, and not be deported without any due process whatsoever. This is important to our commitment as Members of the U.S. Senate to preserve the traditions of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the rights of individuals and the freedom that has been the blessing of our liberty since the founding of our country.
(The remarks of Mr. Welch pertaining to the introduction of S. Res. 224 are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
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