Political Quotes

On the recordJune 19, 2018
I am quite certain that across this country, every one of the 430-some Members of Congress saw this photo. Probably most have heard the audio recording of young children just like this calling out for their mommy or daddy, papa. I suspect many of us have seen the pictures of young children, 3, 4, 5 with a Sharpie telephone number on their chest so that if somehow they were separated, there would be someone to contact. I am certain that every Member, 430-plus of us, plus the Senate, that was a child, that at some point in their life, when they were young, 3, 4, 5 years of age, they were separated from their parent. And I am absolutely certain that each one of us knows the terror of that moment. And most of us are now parents. Most of us are now parents, and we know the terror of a child who has disappeared, wandered off. I don't believe there is one of us that knows the terror of this mother whose child was taken away by American police; the awesome power of this government imposed upon that young woman, a mother, taken from her child. Is there one of us? Is there one of us that has endured that police power? Okay. I get emotional about this because I am a parent. No. I don't know the terror of the police state taking my child away. I don't know that. But I know the terror of that child who has wandered off. This is a policy that has been imposed upon parents and their children by the President. This is not a law that requires this kind of cruelty.…
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John Garamendi
Democratic · California

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