Political Quotes

“I take to the floor today because I am angry and so are Vermonters. We are furious because of what happened yesterday to a Vermonter, a U.S. citizen, as he attempted to return home. Wilmer Chavarria is a community leader. He is a school superintendent in my State. He was held and interrogated for hours yesterday in the Houston airport by CBP agents and given no reason for his detainment. Wilmer called this experience psychological terror. Again, we are talking about a U.S. citizen here. When we say this can happen to any of us, this is what we are talking about. This kind of violation of our constitutional rights is how leaders use terror to intimidate us into silence. I don't want to hear about how everyone is going after the violent criminals in this country and trying to get violent criminals off the streets, when community leaders and school superintendents are being detained because of the color of their skin and the sound of their last name. Madam Speaker, we need to hold onto our collective outrage. We do not need to accept this. This is not what Americans want.”