In Case You Missed It: Congressman García Marks Hispanic Heritage Month and Calls Out Attacks on Latino Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Today, Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to mark Hispanic Heritage Month and call out Trump's attacks on Latino and immigrant communities

A video of the speech can be found here.

Remarks as delivered:

"As we begin Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to honor the millions of Latinos and Latinas who make this country strong.

"We celebrate our culture and sacrifices.

"But this year it comes with urgency because we are under attack.

"Last week, the Department of Homeland Security attacked me on "X," insisting they only 'deport criminals.'

"If you walk the streets of my district, you see the truth, and it looks nothing like their tweets.

"Last Friday in Franklin Park, a suburb in my district, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez left his home like any other day.

"He was a restaurant worker.

"He enjoyed cooking.

"He was a devoted father.

"He never came home.

"ICE agents stopped him.

"Within minutes of dropping his kids at school. He was shot and killed in broad daylight that morning.

"First, they said he drove at officers. Videos show otherwise.

"Then they said he dragged an officer. We've yet to see the evidence.

"They said the officer feared for his life.

"But neighbors' video captured gunshots, then a car coasting-Silverio already incapacitated-before crashing into a semi trailer.

"Those same videos show officers, including one supposedly seriously injured, smashing the window, dragging Silverio's lifeless body out, slamming him onto the pavement, and handcuffing him as he bled out. Silverio didn't make it.

"The DHS story doesn't add up.

"A man is dead. A family is shattered. And the agency responsible keeps hiding behind masked thugs and unmarked cars. And I use that term because that's how so many agents are acting, either voluntarily or not.

"ICE and DHS have no credibility, and neither do their stories. They've lost it.

"Reports indicate that officers involved were not wearing body cameras. This is not law enforcement. This is becoming an American Gestapo.

"Silverio's tragedy is not alone.

"It affects families every day. That same day in Little Village, ICE arrested Willian, a day laborer, as he walked into a barbershop with his wife.

"Willian was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Home Depot and local police for abuse. ICE retaliated.

"And we all saw the Cicero case-children left crying on the side of an industrial road after their parents were taken away by ICE.

"That is state-sanctioned cruelty against children. The President, especially. DHS, says they target criminal immigrants.

"Yet in Elgin, in the dead of night, ICE staged a reckless raid with helicopters and armored trucks, parading detainees for cameras. Secretary Noem showed up for five seconds of fame and rushed to declare "mission accomplished." Really? Two U.S. citizens were detained-not criminals, not even immigrants.

"To quote the President: They don't know what they're doing.

"What we see are workers punished, children traumatized, U.S. citizens abducted in their sleep, and a father, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, shot dead.

"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of cases like this.

"We celebrate Hispanic heritage, but we also issue a warning. Today, it's Latinos and other immigrants under attack. Tomorrow, it will be others.

"Once institutions are built to target and control, they don't surrender-they expand. Like many military-industrial complex, they find new enemies and new missions, new excuses to keep the money flowing and the machinery of fear alive. That's why we will not look away.

"This is bigger than one community and bigger than one city. It is about the kind of country we are becoming.

"Chicago will not be intimidated, and I will not stop demanding truth and dignity for Silverio, for Willian, for the children in Cicero, and for every family who deserves to live free from state terror."

# # #