Jim Costa: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues this afternoon on what is, I think, a very…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues this afternoon on what is, I think, a very important issue facing our country today, and that is remembering what our common shared values are all about: a Nation of immigrants, past and present. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply disturbed, as is my colleague, Congressman Correa, and others that are here, by the administration's current policy, which we believe tears families apart who are seeking asylum at our borders. That is simply not the American way. These are parents and children fleeing to America, coming here via legal means, seeking refuge for a host of different reasons. And what happens to them now? Children, including infants and toddlers, are taken from their parents' care, and sent to shelters, which we now know are sometimes juvenile detention centers. That is not right. That is not the American way. The parents are sent to detention facilities as well, which may be in the form of Federal prisons. At America's borders, this is happening to families; families who, again, are legally seeking asylum. We have had a whole history and tradition of allowing families who are seeking legal asylum. And what are they fleeing? Well, we know what they are fleeing: domestic violence, rape, murder, and gang violence.…”