Juan Vargas: “Thank you, very much, Congressman Fortenberry, and also Anna Eshoo for your courage to come forward and for your words…”

“Thank you, very much, Congressman Fortenberry, and also Anna Eshoo for your courage to come forward and for your words today and for your powerful words that you gave a moment ago to call genocide what it is: genocide, what we are seeing with Christians in particular, Yazidis, and others. So, again, thank you very much for allowing me to speak today. I would also like to congratulate both of you on the passage of H. Con. Res. 75, which expresses the sense of Congress that the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against religious and ethnic minorities are indeed, as I said, genocide, crimes against humanity. I sincerely hope that the Obama administration will see the bipartisan show of support for this timely resolution as an impetus to clearly and forthrightly declare these acts genocide, because that is what they are. So I am hoping that they take action. Around the world, political and religious leaders have spoken out to condemn ISIS' acts of raping, kidnapping, torturing, and killing of Christians, Yazidis, Shias, Turkmens, and other religious minorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Parliament, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and His Holiness, Pope Francis have called these actions by their proper name: genocide--genocide. I would like to echo the words of Pope Francis, who eloquently stated: ``Our brothers are being persecuted, chased away, they are forced to leave their homes without being able to take anything with them.…”