Janice Schakowsky: “What do you call a country that institutionalizes child abuse? Tragically, today you call that country the United States…”

“What do you call a country that institutionalizes child abuse? Tragically, today you call that country the United States of America. We have heard the children screaming. We have seen the images of children being told to go to sleep in cages. We know that children have been ripped from the breasts of nursing mothers and taken away, maybe never to be found to be reunited again. As a mother, as a grandmother, I can't stand it. Madam Speaker, can you stand it? Can this country stand it? What happens to the soul of America when we do this to children? These parents have come with their children, fleeing violence; thinking they are coming to the land of the free, the home of the brave; thinking that they are going to be able to get asylum here in the United States of America or at least a chance to get asylum here and to be safe, finally, with their children. Instead, they are put in jail. They are put in prison. I am here today with Bruce and Felix, children whose parents are in the gallery. They will go home tonight and sleep in a comfortable bed while thousands of children are put to sleep in cages. I say to you, Mr. President: You can end this. This is your decision. Please, for the sake of our country, for the sake of the children, for the sake of families, end this now. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair and not to the President. ____________________”