Rep. Andrea Salinas Delivers Floor Speech Condemning the Trump Administration’s Inhumane Treatment of Immigrants

Click hereto watch Rep. Salinas' full remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) delivered remarks on the House Floor on the need to hold the Trump Administration and ICE accountable for their inhumane treatment of immigrants. During her remarks, Rep. Salinas spoke about her recent oversight visit to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, where she had the opportunity to raise concerns about facility conditions and detainee treatment. Rep. Salinas concluded by reiterating her commitment to continuing to conduct oversight and calling attention to the Administration's unconscionable actions.

A transcript of Salinas' floor speech is available below:

Mister Speaker, I rise to call out the inhumane treatment of immigrants and people living on American Soil.

Individuals are missing from work, children are skipping school, and people are too afraid to leave their own homes because Trump has ordered his Administration to arrest immigrants at any cost.

This manufactured chaos has resulted in ICE vigilantes arresting U.S. citizens and even children. My own constituents have had to endure this horrific trauma across Oregon's Willamette Valley.

Last week, I visited the Tacoma, Washington ICE detention facility to visit constituents and to conduct oversight.

I wanted the opportunity to see for myself the facility, to understand what my constituents are being put through. I gave ICE their seven-day notice of my arrival as they had requested, but I knew I would get a sanitized version of the privatized prison I would be shown. But the alternative would be to drive three hours and they would turn me away. The goal was to meet with my constituents and their attorney and get a tour the facility.

When I asked about detainees not being able to access medication, facility officials told me that the detainees often lie about their lack of access to medical care. They claimed anyone could get access to the medical care they need; however, I know of at least one of my constituents who was detained and was not able to access the heart medication he needed. He went TWO WEEKS without his lifesaving heart medicine. Why would anyone lie about that? Their heart medicine. He had no reason to lie, but he did get it, two weeks later, when he was sent down to Texas.

When I asked about the tuberculosis outbreak in the Alaska detention facility, ICE claimed the news reports got it wrong. I questioned if similar outbreaks happened in the Tacoma ICE facility, and again, flat out lies. The attorney I spoke to afterward told me, yes, there were outbreaks in the Tacoma facility.

When I asked about detainees not being able to access their attorneys, facility officials, "oh there are tablets they can access. There are lots of rooms." And when I was supposed to meet with my constituents on that same day, I was refused access to my own constituents and their attorney.

So even with a full 7-day notice, the Tacoma ICE detention facility, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Geo Group couldn't get their story straight. They raised more questions than they could answer. The questions they did answer were lies, half-truths, and misleading at best.

We should all be holding ICE, Homeland Security and this Administration accountable. It may start at our local or regional detention facilities, but it does not stop there.

We must hold Tom Homan, Kristi Noem and Donald Trump accountable.

They must tell me why a 17-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested, traumatized and suffered shards of glass in his eye when an ICE vigilante smashed in his driver-side window and arrested him. Detained him first, and asked questions later. This is not justice. This is terror.

But I have a voice. I have a voice for the people in my district. I have a voice for those who still believe in the United States as the land of opportunity, just as the Salinas family did in 1945.

I will continue to conduct oversight and publicize the horrific acts of ICE. They cannot continue to operate in the shadows. We must all continue to speak out and hold those who have raised their hands and pledged their oath to the Constitution. We must hold them accountable. But they are failing miserably today.

Thank you, and I yield back.

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