Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Takano for bringing us together this evening for a very important discussion. Kilmar, Andry, Jefferson, Kevin: a devoted father married to an American citizen, a makeup artist who faced persecution in his home country because he is gay, a man with a valid work authorization and pending asylum hearing, and a son of a government worker attacked for his opposition to a corrupt regime. These are just a few of the hundreds of men who have been sent to a foreign prison with conditions so inhumane that El Salvador's Justice Minister has said that the only way out is in a coffin. These men came to our country, in many cases through approved legal pathways, seeking a better life for themselves and their families. In response, we sent them to another country without any due process to be abused and tortured, and we are paying that government $6 million to do so. These are not deportations, but they are government-enforced disappearances. They are illegal. They are horrific. They are the tactics of a dictatorship, not a democracy. We cannot let them get away with this. This is the red line that they cannot be allowed to cross.”