Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ahmed Rehab, a fearless advocate and leader.

Ahmed's career reflects his courage, clarity, and conviction. For more than two decades, Ahmed has defended our civil rights and protected our Muslim and immigrant neighbors and communities.

While he is currently the executive director of the Chicago Office of CAIR, the Nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, he has served on the board of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Muslim task force, and in many other leadership roles. He is committed to building multifaith, multisector coalitions.

Just last week, at Illinois' Third first Power of the People Summit, Ahmed reminded us that coalition is commitment. It means standing together before the storm, not just during it. It means being light in the midst of darkness.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I am proud to commend Ahmed Rehab for his tireless defense of our civil liberties and for the wisdom he brings to the work of solidarity and unity.

I thank and congratulate Ahmed.

Mr. Speaker, as I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, what I hear is the same racist, misogynistic trash, different decade.

Republicans are invoking historical policies intended, let's be clear, to disenfranchise Americans, especially working people, women, students, indigenous people, and anyone who can't afford the burden of a new bill.

The SAVE America Act is yet another Republican attempt to intimidate and suppress the votes of anyone who threatens their extremist, white supremacist agenda.

Don't take my word for it. Just look for the threats that surround the polls, the gun-wielding masked men. It will become clear to you that Trump and Republicans want to control who votes so they can remain in power.

That is not democracy. That is destroying free, fair elections. It is just another page from the authoritarian playbook, and we must have the moral clarity in this place to stand against it, just like our ancestors did.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill and to vote with moral clarity.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, it has been 365 days of Trump 2.0, 365 days of terror, abuse, and violations of our rights.

After infusing $150 billion into DHS and ICE, people in this Chamber have chosen to give them even more money, even after seeing what DHS does with its unlimited resources, even after seeing what they do with unchecked power.

Let me say what they did to Silverio, what they did to Marimar, to Keith, to Renee, to Alex, what they did to Illinois resident Nenko Gantchev in an ICE detention center. Also, Mr. Speaker, what they are doing right now to my own constituent, Steven, a 14-year-old boy with autism in a detention center plagued with measles, it is unconscionable. It is unacceptable.

Many of us are clear: The Department of Homeland Security is the greatest threat to the homeland right now, and that is why we must claw back funding for DHS and ICE. It is why we must pass my Melt ICE Act and end DHS detention and monitoring, disrupt immigration enforcement, and return taxpayer dollars back to the communities.

We also must immediately start the proceedings to impeach Noem. I said it before, and I will say it again. She will either quit, she will get fired, or we will impeach her.

Here is the thing: Our tax dollars should be used to make sure working people have every single thing they need to thrive, not money used to execute U.S. citizens.

Let me end by saying this: We brought the Department of Homeland Security into this world just two decades ago. We also have the ability and the authority to build a world without it, and I will work every day to make that happen.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 32, and YEA on Roll Call No. 33.

Mr. Speaker, 16 years ago, the Supreme Court overturned a longstanding precedent that protected working families' voices in our democracy.

By embracing this idea that corporations are entitled to the same speech rights as people, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to unchecked corporate influence in governance and billionaire political spending.

The Supreme Court effectively put a price tag on representation. They put a price tag on the seats of this Chamber and they put a price tag on our democracy. But today I will make sure that I am clear in the House of Representatives: Our democracy is not for sale.

Our democracy is weaker when the voices of Black, Brown, middle- and low-income folks are drowned out by the volumes of ads a million dollars can buy.

Since the Citizens United decision, outside spending by super-PACs and dark money groups has exploded at every single level of government.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are a clear example. We know that to make Trump and their billionaire bosses happy, my colleagues, bought by big, corporate money, will leave working people unhoused. They will leave them foreclosed. They will leave them detained, deported, poor, hungry, sick, uninsured, and drowning, literally and figuratively.

It is time we finally prioritize a democracy that works for working people. One where Donald, where Elon, where Jeff, and all these billionaires pay their fair share. Their money has to be out of our elections and out of the White House, and their hands out of the working people's pockets and off our services, where our rights and our freedoms mean working people have every single thing they need to thrive.

We need bold legislative action if we are going to end corruption and get big money out of politics and get their corporate influence out of our communities.

That is why last year, I filed the Campaign Transparency Act and the Stop the Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act and supported the Abolishing Super PACs Act. And today, as we are here during Special Order hour, I am proud to announce that I will also be introducing the Lobbyist Loophole Closure Act with Representatives Mullin and Williams.

That bill addresses the loopholes created by the Lobbyist Disclosure Act. The bill includes provisions to increase transparency and accountability by broadening the definition of lobbying and by also lowering the time threshold for registration.

Mr. Speaker, I will close by thanking End Citizens United and its president Tiffany Muller for all the work that they are doing to get dark money out of politics and that we ensure a democracy by the people for the people. It is time we end this, and I know that collectively we can do it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Eric Sirota for his work to expand tenants' rights and reshape the housing landscape.

As director of housing justice at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law and now as the director of a tenant advocacy clinic, Eric uses litigation advocacy to advance housing equity in Illinois and beyond. His work with the Illinois Fair Housing Coalition led to the passage of a State law prohibiting discrimination against housing choice voucher holders.

Eric co-led the Partnership of Just Housing, a national coalition that improved housing access for people with arrest and conviction histories. As a trusted counsel to countless tenant associations, Eric has maintained his commitment to housing for all.

On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, it is my honor to commend Eric Sirota for his work to ensure safe, just, and affordable housing as a fundamental human right.

I thank and congratulate Eric.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by commending a liberation leader, Frank Chapman.

Frank's political education began in St. Louis, where he experienced the violence of racism and repression and was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison during his twenties. Yet Frank has always been an organizer and educator.

Frank taught himself law and launched a movement to desegregate the prison, where Black prisoners had faced brutal and inhumane treatment. The bars in prison didn't break him or limit his spirit. On the contrary, it propelled him to fight for the liberation of those imprisoned and all people.

After his release, Frank established himself as a fixture in the struggle for liberation in Chicago and beyond. Whether through his leadership in the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, his successful campaigns for community control of the police, or his solidarity with immigrant communities in the fight to protect our neighbors from ICE, Frank has consistently fought to defend the most fundamental of our collective human rights and our shared liberation.

Mr. Speaker, this week carries profound significance for Frank. It marks the 50th anniversary of his release from prison.

I am honored on behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District to commend Frank Chapman for his lifelong commitment to building the beloved community, championing civil and human rights, and practicing solidarity across our intersections, our identities, and our issues.

I thank and congratulate Frank for all of his efforts, and all power to the people.

Recognizing Juliet De Jesus Alejandre

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor my constituent, Juliet De Jesus Alejandre.

Juliet is a triracial Latina who honors her African and indigenous ancestry with roots in Ecuador and Puerto Rico. She is a healer, organizer, poet, visionary, and she is the current executive director of Palenque LSNA.

Juliet's love for Black, Brown, indigenous, and immigrant communities and her bold vision of collective liberation is deeply rooted in healing, joy, and solidarity, especially among young Latinos and ``madres immigrantes''; ``immigrant mothers.''

To fight erasure, she connects young leaders to their history and genealogy. To fight displacement, she builds collective ownership. To fight dehumanization, she offers mutual support and collective care.

Through her artistry and creativity, she invokes our ancestral histories as she casts visions that help us to imagine new ways forward that leave all of our communities better and stronger.

On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, it is my honor to commend Juliet De Jesus Alejandre for her bold, loving, and creative leadership that builds people power to shape our future because we know ``el pueblo unido jamas sera vencido''; ``the people united shall never be defeated.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank and congratulate Juliet for all of her work.

Mr. Speaker, I hereby remove my name as cosponsor of

Mr. Speaker, from the start of the Trump administration, this Republican-led Congress has willingly given up our powers and authority: our power of the purse, our oversight authority, our legislative authority, and now, our war powers.

Members of this body have surrendered their ability to check the executive and have failed to stand up for democracy and the American people.

I say: Enough is enough. Congress must start acting as a coequal branch of government. Trump and his administration, while waging a war in our cities, are committing war crimes in the Caribbean.

While Trump lies to us about how they are going after narcotraffickers, he is pardoning convicted narcotraffickers who are probably responsible for many of the overdoses we have seen around the country.

The hypocrisy is suffocating. The administration is lying, consolidating power, and committing war crimes in order to control, to dominate, and to seize Venezuelan oil and pursue regime change for their imperialistic agenda in the Western Hemisphere. They do this all so they can extract resources, they can expand their wealth, and they can make sure that one day, should they lose their hold on power, which they will, they can be pardoned for their corruption.

It seems like Republicans love Trump and protecting pedophiles more than they love America and children. It is shameful, and it is pitiful. It is filthy, and we have to put an end to it.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this resolution. Let's take back the power and authority that rightfully belongs to Congress and put an end to the lawlessness that makes us all less safe.

Madam Speaker, the Republican Party is quickly becoming the party of child suffering. Under their leadership and because of their policies, children are sick from cuts to Medicaid and the end of the ACA subsidies. They are hungry from cuts to SNAP. They are orphaned by violently abducting their parents. They are criminalized and strip- searched at the border, and now they are denied lifesaving gender- affirming care.

Since my Republican colleagues seem confused about what love, care, and protection looks like, let me be very clear. The Protect Children's Innocence Act is not it. No one who causes or tolerates the suffering of children can claim to be their protector.

Love for our children would ensure each of them have every single thing they need to thrive assured to them.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues here in the House of Representatives to vote ``no.'' Let's build a future where our children, including our transgender little ones, are seen, are loved, and are valued.

Mr. Speaker, we are less than 10 days away from Christmas, a day in which many celebrate the birth of Jesus, a refugee.

In regard to the hypocrisy of those who would quote Scripture asserting the preciousness of children while they pursue new, cruel punishments for child refugees, I find that not just hypocritical but despicable.

This administration and the Republicans have used their power not to protect children but, instead, to strip unaccompanied children who come to this country fleeing danger, looking for safety or protection. Now with H.R. 4371, Republicans are treating unaccompanied immigrant children like criminals. They are putting them in prison. They are subjecting them to invasive physical exams, and they are keeping them away from their families.

It is not surprising, since profiling, criminalizing, and physically assaulting Black, Brown, and indigenous children is a shameful legacy written into the DNA of this country, and subjecting children to strip searches is an unsurprising tactic of the party that fought tooth and nail to protect pedophiles.

However, none of that predictableness makes it any less despicable.

Mr. Speaker, do you know someone else who is also willing to sacrifice his humanity to attempt to secure his security? Do you know who?

It is Herod.

I am pretty sure he is the villain in the Christmas story my colleagues claim is so sacred.

Mr. Speaker, we have to choose to believe that another world is possible. We must use every tool at our disposal to protect our vulnerable children and build a world that affirms our shared humanity and ensures that people have safety.

This bill criminalizes children and creates dangerous precedent that only makes them more vulnerable.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill, and I urge them to join me in championing legislation like the Family Reunification Act and the Upholding Protections for Unaccompanied Children Act.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 333 and NAY on Roll Call No. 334.

Personal Explanation

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent, Omar Martinez Gonzalez. Omar is an advocate fighting for the resources that immigrant, Black, Brown, and underserved communities need and deserve to prevent, treat, and end the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

As a queer Latino immigrant, Omar has experienced firsthand the importance of high-quality, culturally competent healthcare and HIV prevention services. His experience has motivated him to build a world where no one is denied quality healthcare services because of their background, citizenship status, identity, or circumstance.

For almost two decades, from Chicago to Boston, this young man has implemented and coordinated health programs to increase access to HIV testing and prevention. He has fought for the rights and dignity of our neighbors living with HIV or AIDS, including our LGBTQI+ community and undocumented neighbors, and has advocated to protect and expand the funding necessary to end the HIV epidemic.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, it is my honor to commend Omar Martinez Gonzalez for his work to ensure that our neighbors, no matter their sexual orientation, gender expression, ZIP Code, background, HIV status, or citizenship status receive every single thing they need and deserve to live healthy, thriving lives. I congratulate Omar.

Honoring Mario Vega

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mario Vega for his work to create spaces that uplift our young people and build safe and thriving communities.

Mario has transformed his own personal experiences, growing up in Chicago, to realize safety in our communities by investing in our city's young people.

Through the establishment of the Chicago Youth Boxing Club, and as the director of mentoring at New Life Centers, Mario understands that building community and building relationships are the recipe for safer neighborhoods. Through his mentorship of young people, including those in my own community of Humboldt Park, he sees, values, and affirms young people and supports their journey to find their confidence and purpose.

Mario's work has been recognized in ``Beacons of Hope: Stories of Strength from Chicago,'' but the true measure of his impact is seen in the violence epidemic he interrupts and the young people who, as a result, chart a new path for themselves full of possibilities.

On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, it is my honor to commend Mario Vega for reminding us that when we invest in our youth, we are actually investing in peace. I congratulate Mario.

Recognizing Rita Kollias

Mr. Speaker, during this holiday season, which has been so difficult for so many families, I rise to recognize the joy and hope that Rita Kollias facilitates in DuPage County in Illinois' Third Congressional District.

After serving for 10 years in the United States Marine Corps, Rita has dedicated over 20 years of her life to coordinating the Marine Corps Reserve DuPage County Toys for Tots program. The program distributes thousands of toys to more than 25,000 children via a network of local nonprofit organizations, churches, and community agencies.

Whether she is coordinating drop-off sites, recruiting volunteers, or searching for donated warehouse space, Rita's logistical skill set matches her passion and her dedication.

Rita has described her late hours and working weekends with the Marine Corps Reserve DuPage County Toys for Tots program as an obsession, one she pursues as an expression of care for her local community and area families. For her neighbors, her obsession ensures that children in our communities feel seen and valued.

On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District and this House of Representatives, I acknowledge that these holidays are more brightened because of Rita. It is my honor to commend Rita Kollias. I thank her for her service.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, as a Chicagoan, I know firsthand the terror that Trump's mass deportation agenda and the Department of Homeland Security's immigration raids are having on our communities.

My constituents have been surveilled, threatened, teargassed, hit with pepper balls, and shot. They have been subjected to warrantless arrests, rammed with Department of Homeland Security vehicles, kidnapped, and disappeared. People keep asking us why DHS agents are allowed to behave this way. Why isn't Congress doing something about it?

Let me start by saying that DHS was intentionally established with an overbroad mission and, some would argue, unchecked power. Yet, Republicans have expanded that power with a blank check and unlimited personnel.

With his authoritarian tendencies, his power grabs, his overreach, and his willingness to shamelessly use DHS as his own terror force, Trump is only making visible what so many communities have already known to be true: Terrorizing is the point. Violating our rights is the point. Fear is the point.

Creating a public enemy is meant to convince Americans to sacrifice our freedoms for the promise of security. Let me be very clear. Nothing that the Department of Homeland Security is doing is making us any safer.

In this moment, under Secretary Noem and under Donald Trump, DHS has become the single greatest threat to public safety. DHS agents used chemical weapons on protesters and bystanders at least 49 times across 18 incidents in Chicago and the suburbs since October 1. Bovino and CBP agents are violating court injunctions and agency rules. They are lying in court about incidents where civilians have been put in danger.

The government alleges that Marimar Martinez used her car to assault and impede Federal law enforcement, but then, Federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss their own case.

Why?

It is because while she didn't assault the agents, they did shoot her five times, and then they went on and bragged about it.

You see, Mr. Speaker, President Trump and DHS are lying. They are acting with impunity. They are rejecting checks and balances, and they are ignoring Congress and the courts.

Here is my question to this House: If DHS cannot be held accountable, if we are obstructed from conducting oversight, and if they are systematically undermining our civil rights and perpetrating violence in our communities, then what, in fact, is Congress' responsibility?

You see, Mr. Speaker, the answer is clear. We must strip away every tool they are using to terrorize us, starting with the taxpayer dollars that they are using to harm Americans.

Today, in our Special Order hour, I am going to be yielding to my colleagues who will highlight stories of victims of Trump's enforcement overreach, discuss our ongoing work to hold the administration accountable, and uplift how we are pushing back against the abuses of this President, Secretary Noem, and of the entire administration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington State (Ms. Jayapal).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat), who is the chair of the Hispanic Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Espaillat for his constant leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Carbajal).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Salinas).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her leadership.

I now yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).

Mr. Speaker, I agree with the Congresswoman.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressman for his words.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Dexter).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her words.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Rivas).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Mr. Speaker, as you can hear from my colleagues here, we are living the reality of this nightmare across the country. That is why we are here to push back.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke) for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) to talk more about how enough is enough.

Mr. Speaker, may those that quote Scripture remember what the Scripture says.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Grijalva).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman for her remarks.

May we remember, I think she said $96.7 billion is what undocumented immigrants give in tax revenue every single year.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Ansari) to close the speakers for the day.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is this: What is happening today in our communities is not an accident, it is not new. DHS is not rogue. From its establishment, DHS has always been empowered to violate our rights under the pretense of securing our safety.

It is why they wear masks, why they refuse to wear badges, why they won't identify themselves, and why they resist oversight and accountability.

They were designed to operate in shadow and secrecy because they are waging a war against the American people. You may not know it because they just haven't come for you yet. Trump's authoritarian fascist tendencies, his power grabs, his overreach, and his willingness to shamelessly use DHS as his own terror force is only making visible what so many communities have already known to be true: DHS is a democratic liability and a tool for authoritarian control.

Nothing that DHS is doing is making us any safer, and Americans, frankly, they are done. We see through the lies. We cannot assure our security by sacrificing our humanity, our dignity, or our liberty. We have seen what DHS can do with its unlimited resources and unchecked power, and we say enough. DHS has to be held accountable.

Today, as you have heard the stories from my colleagues of Trump's immigration enforcement overreach, I want to encourage you to remember history and context. We brought DHS into this world less than 25 years ago. We can build a world without it as well.

I thank my colleagues who joined today's Special Order on Trump's immigration overreach. We understand that true security is built by investing in people, and as Members of Congress we must actively build that world through policies that defend and expand our rights and civil liberties, not crush them. That is the work we must do, and we must resist the fear that would tell us that we must surrender our rights and forfeit our values in order to protect the little we have when we deserve so much more.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Marisol Velez, known as Pinqy Ring. She is a rooted, revolutionary Puerto Rican emcee from Chicago, decolonizing minds as a rapper, educator, mentor, and speaker.

As a cultural worker and disruptor, Pinqy's music ignites our imaginations and sustains our struggle against displacement and erasure.

As an educator and mentor, she shapes the next generation of creative changemakers through culturally rooted programming and radical care.

Pinqy is a GRAMMY U mentor. She sits on the National Advisory Board for Music Will and serves as a U.S. Hip Hop Cultural Ambassador to facilitate cultural diplomacy programming and conflict transformation through music. In her roles, she is shaping the first-ever K-12 hip-hop guidelines with the Hip-Hop Education Center.

On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend her.