Political Quotes

“I am going to give my colleague just a moment and tell you about a family who are not immigrants with children. They are Americans, four Americans. Jackie Merlos and her children went to the Canadian border with her mother, who had a visiting visa from Honduras to come and see her sister and her nieces and nephews who live in Canada as permanent legal residents. They drove to the Peace Park. They went there to have a family reunion, a picnic. There was no intention for any misguided actions. They just wanted to have a picnic and a reunion. Now, Jackie has an asylum case, an active asylum case. She has lived in the United States for over 20 years and has an active work permit. She has done everything right. As they hugged, ICE agents, CBP agents swarmed the family and detained all of them. Now, luckily, her sister lives in Canada where they released her fairly quickly, but Jackie was accused of human trafficking, as if her sister and her nieces and nephews wanted to come into the United States. She was kept with her four children, 7-year-old triplets and their 9-year-old, in a windowless cell at the border in Ferndale, Washington, for 2 weeks--over 2 weeks. This is not a facility meant for long-term detention. It is a facility meant for 48-hours-or-less stays. There are no showers. There is no kitchen to make food for them. They kept them there. I had the ability to go and see this family, but I wasn't allowed to talk to them.”