Political Quotes

Raúl Grijalva: a 9-year-old boy named Deiver, told Ms. Rachel, a well-known online educator in a recent interview: Can you help us…

On the recordMarch 26, 2026
a 9-year-old boy named Deiver, told Ms. Rachel, a well-known online educator in a recent interview: Can you help us leave here? I don't want to be here anymore. I want to leave and go to the spelling bee. This is so heartbreaking, cruel, and reprehensible. It shows the real harm caused by immigration policies pushed by Trump. The Republican Party isn't just watching. It is supporting, defending, and funding it. Our children, ``our babies,'' ``nuestros ninos,'' are being locked in detention, separated from their families, and traumatized. There are too many stories like Deiver's, and each one is a moral failure of our government and this administration. No family deserves this. No one deserves this. Deiver has been released. But what about the hundreds of babies and children who haven't? Who will be torn from their parents next? Who will be disappeared next? These children don't belong locked away in jails. They belong in classrooms. They belong at school, learning, dreaming, and preparing for spelling bees, not living in constant fear that they will be taken away from their family and friends, and disappeared. How does locking up our babies make this country safer? This is not politics. Mr. Speaker, this is a moral crisis, and it is on all of us, on every single one of us, to act.
Said by
Raúl Grijalva
Democratic · Arizona

Editor's note · Context

Addressing the impact of immigration policies on children during a speech.

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