Floor Statements

Mr. President, I thank my colleague Senator Klobuchar and all of our colleagues who are joining us on the floor this afternoon.

We are here today because we have a full-blown, dangerous emergency unfolding in Minnesota.

It is happening right now as I speak, and we need your help to end it. America needs your help. The Nation has been appalled by what we have seen happening in our State of Minnesota, the stories that have captured everyone's attention.

Two innocent U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, shot and killed on the street in broad daylight by Federal agents just as they were trying to help their neighbors and document with their telephones what was going on, the brutality of it.

A 5-year-old in a Spider-Man backpack, Liam Conejo Ramos. So Liam is coming home with his dad and the agents are there and Liam is trying to get inside. The agents try to use Liam as bait to lure the mother outside.

Liam is still in detention. He is still in Texas--a 5-year-old, 1,000 miles away from home.

Colleagues, my head is so full of stories, so full of stories that might not have gotten all the attention but tell the tale of the brutality and illegality of Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.

This is about a U.S. citizen, a young man, who is walking out of his place of work to get lunch, and he sees an ICE agent. He is concerned. He is afraid that he might get targeted so he turns around and walks the other way. The ICE agent runs after him and tackles the guy. He is a U.S. citizen, throws him to the ground, injures him, and detains him for hours, all the while this young man has documents to prove who he is.

It is about a teenager in Willmar, MN. Willmar is a smaller regional center in Minnesota. It is place where the Jennie-O turkey processing plant is. It is an incredible community.

Here is a teenager in Willmar who is stopped by ICE. She is beaten. She gets a concussion, and she is detained for 2 days, and she is a U.S. citizen.

So imagine--it is hard to imagine this. But imagine you are in your neighborhood, and there are those roving vans of Federal agents. They have no identification. They drive around in black Suburbans. They have masks over their faces, and at the drop of a hat, they just leap out, and they go after people. They are restraining them. They are hitting them. They are spraying them with chemical agents, and then people are just shoved into Suburbans and driven off.

And nobody really knows what happens to them. This is happening in Minnesota, if it isn't happening in your neighborhood. I want people to understand this is not just Minneapolis-St. Paul where so many of the TV cameras have been.

It is Rochester, MN, where the schools are reporting a huge falloff of kids going to school because they are so afraid. Their families are so afraid to send them to school.

It is in Mankato, MN, which is in the southern part of the State. It is another regional center, a farming community. I heard today on the public radio station that the local immigrant rights organization is getting 400 calls a day from people who are trying to figure out what their rights are, what to do: A family member of mine is detained. I don't know where they are.

This is happening in dozens of cities.

So what we have here, colleagues, is a campaign. It is a campaign not about public safety; it is a campaign about fear and intimidation. This is about secret police roaming in our cities with no identification and no name tags.

What they do is they overtly target individuals because of the accent that they have, the skin color that they have. I am not just imagining this is their motivation because these agents are telling people this is what is going on.

I mean, this is the story of a Hmong woman that I met in Hmong Village just last week who, in tears, is telling me that her son has been detained. He has been gone for days and days and days, and she doesn't know when she is going to get him back.

Where is he?

This is about ICE agents going to a suburban restaurant in the Twin Cities, having lunch, and then after lunch, they go into the kitchen to detain the folks that are working in the kitchen.

We are seeing this happen every single day; battering down doors, breaking car windows. There literally--there is no pretext. There is no warrant. They are targeting people, not because they know that they have committed some crime, but because of what they look like.

There is this thing that we have in the Twin Cities now. They are called ghost cars. What is this? This is a car that is left in the street, the middle of the street sometimes, the door open, the engine running, the keys still in the car, and nobody is there. People know what happened. ICE came and got whoever was driving the car and took them away.

You know, if you are going through a legal immigration process in this country, you go through a process, and it is your obligation--your legal obligation--to check in with the Federal authorities.

What is happening now is that you are getting--folks are getting-- legal residence getting a letter to appear. They have a choice. They know that if they don't comply, they are breaking

the law, so of course they comply. But when they go to the courthouse, what happens is an agent is waiting outside the courthouse. An agent is there waiting to detain that person who is following the law, who has done nothing wrong. In fact, they are doing everything they possibly can do to comply with the law, and yet they are being detained.

These are not, my colleagues--these are not what you hear from this administration about the so-called worst of the worst. These are people that are active, contributing members of our community. These are legal residents who hold green cards who are being flown to Texas with no legal representation, no access to counsel.

And you know what happens sometimes? They get down there; they go through another screening; and the Federal agents say: OK. Sorry about that. We made a mistake. And they just dump them on the streets of Houston or wherever they may be.

No documents, no identification--how are they going to even get home? That is happening in this country right now. And if they are not released, because not everyone is released--if they are not released, people have died in custody. People with no criminal record have been deported to countries that they have never even known.

So this is happening in Minnesota, but this is not just Minnesota. I think, because Minnesota has resisted so strongly and because the tactics of Operation Metro Surge have been so brutal, we have gotten so much of the attention, but this is not just a Minnesota problem.

I ask you, colleagues, to consider how these dangerous and poorly trained and unaccountable ICE agents have been treating Americans who have been exercising their constitutional right to peacefully speak and to demonstrate. These Americans have been intimidated. They have been taunted. They have been beaten. They have even been killed.

We have seen the images of people being maced at point-blank range. You can see this in the final pictures of Alex Pretti before he is killed.

We know that they are tracking demonstrators with facial ID technology, following them home to intimidate them. And, in fact, I have heard stories from demonstrators who have been led home by ICE agents--so that those agents are communicating: We know where you live. We know who you are. We want you to be quiet--pepper balls, tear gas.

And this is not just happening, colleagues, in situations of civil unrest. I am not talking about riots here. I am talking about a family that is trying to get home. They have six kids in the car. They have been at basketball practice, and they end up with a can of tear gas thrown under their car. It explodes. It lifts the car up off the ground, and that family ends up in the emergency room. They need to be decontaminated from the poison.

Now, I am telling you these stories because I want you to understand a very important thing: What is going on in Minnesota is not about public safety. It has nothing to do with public safety. In fact, what is going on in Minnesota is hurting public safety. As Senator Klobuchar said, police chiefs of suburban communities have come forward and said: This is not sustainable. This is dangerous.

A police chief told the story about how one of his own officers, who was off duty, was stopped for no reason by ICE agents, and they threatened to get her out of the car and take her away before she finally tells them. She decides: I have to tell them that I am a police officer. And they leave her alone.

This is about people dialing 911 because an ICE agent is at their home, and they are so scared about what to do.

So I want to be clear: We are pro-public safety in Minnesota. We have worked often with Federal authorities to catch bad guys and lock them up. But we need ICE out of Minnesota. What is really going on here is a systemic and organized campaign of fear and intimidation.

This is government police, sanctioned at the highest levels of our government, completely unbound, beating and attacking and detaining and arresting and killing American citizens. This is what America looks like with an authoritarian government, with no laws.

But here is what is happening not only in Minnesota but around the country. Our constituents, the Presiding Officer's constituents are watching these videos, and they are hearing these stories, and they are reading these reports. And what is happening is a sense of moral outrage is rising up, that feeling that you have in your gut when you-- that feeling of anguish and anger and disgust, when you know that you are seeing something that is just wrong. You know that it is wrong and that you can't look away from it.

And we are uplifted by this moral outrage and the incredible courage of Minnesotans, but we know what we are seeing here. And people are responding everywhere. I have talked to hundreds of people, over the past few weeks, about what is going on in Minnesota--people who are organizing mutual aid to get groceries and diapers to families; but smalltown folks that hate to see this happen to their neighbors; and local mayors and farmers and small businesses; Democrats, Republicans, people who aren't political at all; law enforcement officers, faith leaders, Second Amendment supporters, and civil libertarians.

And there is the man in the truck that I saw when I was in Minneapolis, taking groceries to people on Monday. He is in the truck, and I drive up. He is, at first, kind of concerned that I might be ICE. Then he is worried that I am going to think that he is ICE. And we start to talk, and he said of the President: I voted for him. I told my kids. I talked my kids into voting for him. And I am so upset. I am so embarrassed. I never thought that this would happen. This is so messed up.

This, colleagues, is the coalition of the horrified, the people who see this and feel a sense of moral outrage, people who are bound together not by politics or faction or identity but by that feeling in your gut that what you are seeing is wrong and that we have to do something about it, that this can't be how we operate.

So that brings us to here, today, in this august Chamber of the U.S. Senate, and we ask ourselves: OK, what do we do? What is our place here?

We have all worked really hard to get here, and we all are here, I believe, because we love this country. And I suspect that almost all of us who serve in this Chamber understand. They see the threat. We see the threat that this poses to the very underpinnings of our country.

And I am so grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, who have spoken out, who have called for a fair and impartial investigation, who have called for changes of leadership. I agree with that. That is all really important.

But, colleagues, that is not going to be enough to stop this. This is a crucial moment in our country, not just for Minnesota but for our entire country, and our answer to the question of what we do in the face of this illegality, this brutality--our answer to all those people, all those constituents who feel that sense of moral outrage, who are begging us to stand up for them--our answer can't be that we are not going to do anything. It can't be the status quo. It can't be: Well, the procedures of the Senate and the House make it really impossible for us to get something done. So there is really not that much we can do right now.

That is not acceptable.

But, colleagues, I can see a path forward. And, look, I want to be really clear. In my view, we need to start over with the Department of Homeland Security. I think it should be ripped down to the studs and that we should start over. But that is not the question for today. That is not the question for right now. Right now, we need to take immediate, commonsense steps to stop the worst of the violence and the violations that Americans are suffering.

So, to be clear, I will not vote for any funding for DHS, if we do not take action to stop this emergency unfolding in my State.

And I truly believe that we can find agreement on both sides of the aisle for a path forward. It will not solve all of these problems, but we can address the worst of the assault.

We need to end these roving patrols of Federal agents that are detaining and arresting people that have done nothing wrong. You can't break down someone's door and arrest them without a warrant.

We need accountability. ICE agents should be required to abide by the same set of laws, the same use-of-force standards that your local police department abides by. We need a fair and unbiased investigation, and we need no more of this secret police--no more masks and agents without proper identification, and body cameras.

I mean, to me, this seems like pretty simple and commonsense and reasonable reforms that can only be achieved through the force of law. We are long past the moment where any letter or Executive order or promise can secure our trust. This is our path forward.

I am thinking about, as I wrap up this speech--I am thinking about all of my colleagues who are here to speak with such intention about what is happening. I want to just take a pause to acknowledge my beloved Minnesota.

I am so proud to be your Senator, and, you know, so many people around the country are looking to you--to us--for hope, and you are showing the world how to respond to violence and how to stand up to bullies with strength and with dignity and with peace. You are putting your own safety and your own bodies on the line to protect your neighborhoods and your democracy. You are risking your own safety to document the emergency and the inhumanity unfolding on our streets. And you are even--you are even--sometimes doing it by singing.

In Minnesota, we show up for our neighbors. We help people out. We don't give in to bullies. We stand strong. We stand in the park with a candle in our hands to mourn but also to kindle hope. And I know that Minnesotans are going to stay strong because, as Dr. King preached, we know how to put our faith into action.

As Dr. King said, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.''

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today to honor my friend and great American Richard Moe, whom we lost to Parkinson's disease at the age of 88 on September 15 of this year.

Dick leaves behind a legacy that shaped Minnesota and our country and my own life and career.

Madam President, I understand that some of Richard Moe's family are visiting us in the Gallery today, and I want to, through the Presiding Officer, welcome them to the Chamber.

From leading Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party at only 32, to serving as chief adviser to Walter Mondale in the Senate and the White House, to spending 17 years as president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Dick leaves behind a remarkable legacy of public service.

Dick was born in Duluth, MN--fondly called the San Francisco of the Great Lakes, to those of us who love it. He was born there in 1936. He became active in Minnesota politics at a very young age, at 24, and right out of college, he volunteered to be a driver for Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey when he was running first for the Senate. Dick was, as I said, Humphrey's driver and reportedly was so nervous driving the great man around that he drove Humphrey right into a gate at one point--an event that, thankfully, was not a career-ending move for him.

A few years later, when he was only 32, Humphrey recruited Dick to lead Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and there, Dick showed really exceptional political intuition and skill, where he led Minnesota Democrats to win majorities in the State legislature for the first time ever.

His political and organizing skills caught the eye of Senator Walter Mondale, who recruited Dick to come work on the Washington staff, and soon Dick became Mr. Mondale's chief of staff and one of his closest advisers.

Among his many accomplishments, Dick continued to show prescient political insight by hiring a bright-eyed, young Minnesotan named Amy Klobuchar to be an intern for Walter Mondale. Amy will be here to tell you the rest of the story.

I think it is fair to say that Dick loved the Senate, and he believed strongly in the power of this institution to do good in people's lives. He understood that politics is about making the very most of the power that you have, for good.

One of my favorite stories comes from 1976, when Jimmy Carter was considering Walter Mondale to be Vice President. Fritz balked at the idea at first. He had heard some of the horror stories about how LBJ treated his friend Hubert Humphrey, and he was very negative to the idea of the Vice Presidency. But Dick encouraged Mondale to keep an open mind, and then he invited Humphrey over to the Senate to talk the whole idea through. And Humphrey was really clear. He said: Fritz, you will get more done up there in 2 days than you will get done here in 2 years.

So Fritz and Joan and Dick, as I understand it, went down to Plains, GA, to meet the Carters. Now, Fritz always said that Joan charmed the Carters and that sealed the deal, and I am sure that there is a lot of truth to that, but after that meeting, Dick told Mr. Mondale that he needed to write down on paper what he wanted the job of Vice President to be. So the two of them talked, and then Dick drafted a memo that laid out the template for the modern Vice Presidency.

After the election, they presented their ideas to President-elect Carter, and Carter agreed. With that memo, what had been a torture to Hubert Humphrey was reimagined by Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter, thanks to Dick Moe.

Vice President Mondale had an office in the West Wing because they understood that proximity to the Oval and

to decision making was essential. Mondale got the information and the security briefings and the respect that allowed him to truly be a true adviser and trusted confidant to the President, not just a ribbon cutter and somebody who was designated to go to funerals. And Richard Moe became Chief of Staff to the Vice President and Senior Adviser to President Carter.

Many years later, when Gov. Mark Dayton asked me to be his Lieutenant Governor, I consulted my friend Walter Mondale: Did he think this was a good idea? Characteristically, Mondale was a little skeptical at first, but then he called me down to his office, and he had a mission in mind. I came in and I sat down, and Mondale shouted out to Linda, his longtime personal assistant--he said, ``Linda, get me Dick's memo.''

So he handed me Dick Moe's 11-page revolutionary tract on how to change the role of the second in command.

``Take a look at this,'' says Mondale, in his understated way. ``I think it might give you a few ideas.''

So I used that memo to write my own memo to Governor Dayton so that together we were able to transform that role of Lieutenant Governor in Minnesota. And I remember saying to Mark: You are no Jimmy Carter and I am no Walter Mondale, but I think there are some good things for us to take to heart here. And that changed my life.

I love this story because, at its heart, I was a chief of staff and Dick was a staffer, and as a former staff, I appreciate great staff. And he was the consummate staffer, Dick Moe.

But what happens next in his story is how Dick left behind the role of adviser and became a principal in his own right. When the Carter- Mondale ticket lost, badly, in 1980, Dick regrouped. He practiced law for a while, and he dedicated himself to his love of American history.

He wrote a book called ``The Last Full Measure'' about Minnesota's famous First Regiment and the Battle of Gettysburg, and this led him to leading the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he served as president for 17 years. In that role, he had a significant hand in preserving some of our country's most precious buildings and historic sites and shaping how cities and small towns preserve the unique Main Streets and downtowns that give these communities a sense of place.

His book ``Changing Places'' changed how downtowns were imagined, and he called out how big-box stores were destroying what is precious and unique about these communities that we love.

He marshalled famous historians and grassroots organizers to protect the Manassas Battlefield from being overrun by a Disney theme park, and he was one of the first people to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to highlight the need to restore the historically Black neighborhoods decimated by the storms.

His fondest achievement was the restoration of a gothic revival home that President Lincoln used as a refuge for his family during the hot Washington summers of the Civil War. You can all visit President Lincoln's cottage in Washington, DC, thanks to Dick. In fact, Madam President and Senator Klobuchar, I believe we had a women's Senate dinner there ourselves and enjoyed that beautiful place that Dick protected and restored for all of us.

When I came to the Senate in 2018, Dick reached out to me immediately, and he became a trusted adviser to yet another Minnesota Senator. He gave me wise counsel and in so many ways helped me to learn how to be a Senator but maybe most especially around the importance of protecting Minnesota's Boundary Waters wilderness area.

The Boundary Waters is one of the great places on this planet. It is a million acres of lakes and bogs and forests and streams. And as Vice President Mondale's Chief of Staff when they were in the Presidency, Dick helped Mondale and President Carter shepherd through Congress the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978. This was the culmination of years of grassroots efforts to protect this place.

After all these years, Dick was still engaged in protecting the Boundary Waters from copper, nickel, and sulfide mining. Dick understood the North Country of Minnesota. It was in his history, it was in his blood, and he understood the power of leadership to protect this special place.

Madam President, I can tell you, he was relentless. I remember once, I took a call from him on New Year's Day morning. I was still in bed, and he is calling me on New Year's Day: Starting a new year, Tina. Time for us to think about what you can do to help to protect the Boundary Waters. Leadership, he said, makes a big difference. And he was right.

Dick loved Minnesota. He loved this country, and he believed passionately in the idea that the U.S. Senate has the power to do good. He was steadfast in believing that individual leaders have an obligation to do their best and be their best and live up to our highest values.

I can see him sitting across from me in the Senate Dining Room. There we were--the elder statesman and junior Senator. He would lean in and say to me: Tina, I have been thinking about something that I think you could do that would make a big difference. Let me tell you about it.

Even as Parkinson's took its toll--and it did--he kept at it. One of the last conversations I had with him was about a speech he wanted me to give on Minnesota's value of civic participation and our collective responsibility to work together for the good of all of us.

After the tragic and wrenching murders of Melissa Hortman and Mark, her husband, and the shooting of State senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette, Dick could still see the through line of our Minnesota story--from Minnesota's First Regiment sacrificing everything at Gettysburg, to Humphrey and Mondale, through civil rights and farmers and laborers, to this moment. For Dick, this was the story of regular people called on to do the hard work of holding our democracy together--not out of partisanship but in the spirit of building a more perfect Union.

So I have yet to deliver the speech that Dick had in mind, but I am working on it. And I am missing the inspiration of my friend and mentor Dick Moe. We all should have someone like Dick in our corners--someone wise, kind, telling us what we need to hear, and pushing us to do better and do more for the good of all of us.

Dick is loved and missed by his wife of 60 years, Julia Neimeyer Moe, by his daughter Alexandra and son Andrew, his sister Elizabeth, his two granddaughters, and many, many other family and friends, and those whose life he expanded by being a part of it.

May his memory be a blessing to all of us who knew and loved him.

If the Senator from Oregon would yield for a question, I would appreciate that. I have a specific question, but I would like to just actually follow up on the interesting conversation you were having with Senator Cantwell from Washington about soybeans, because I represent Minnesota, a very large soybean State, and I was just home in Minnesota last weekend. I heard a lot about what is happening with soybeans.

You are exactly right, Senator Merkley. We are having a bumper crop of soybeans. The beans are pretty much out of the field, and Minnesota farmers and producers are trying to figure out what to do with those beans.

Because of Trump's tariffs, the Chinese market for soybeans has been decimated. Trump tariffs have completely ruined that market. And as I think you said, Senator Merkley, these export markets for American agricultural products--it is not like an on-off switch; it is not like a pipe that you just open or close. These relationships in these export markets are incredibly important. So what is happening here is that American and Minnesota farmers are looking at this and they are seeing: OK, Trump tariffs have made U.S. soybeans basically noncompetitive, and so China, our biggest export market, is turning to South America--in particular, turning to Argentina.

American soybean producers are literally wondering how they are going to pay the bills when their operating loans are coming due right now, and they are looking at the loans they are going to need to take out, the working capital loans they are going to need to take out this winter in order to buy fertilizer and seed and all they need to get crops in the ground for springtime.

It is so offensive to them that at the same time that they have lost this market in Argentina, the President, President Trump, is sending billions of dollars to Argentina.

So I think I have seen, Senator Merkley, that the amount of money that the President is sending to Argentina to bail out the Argentinian debt, to resolve this capital crisis in Argentina--there is one group that we know for sure is going to benefit from this bailout, and these are the friends of Donald Trump in the United States of America--the big fund managers, the big private equity firms that made huge investments in Argentinian debt, hoping that it was going to go up, and sure enough, it will because of what the current President is doing.

So helping big Wall Street fund managers, hurting American farmers-- that is the story of what is happening with Donald Trump and his tariffs right now.

Senator Merkley, I was listening last night to what you were talking about, and you gave a really powerful quote or a paraphrase, perhaps, from the book ``How Democracies Die,'' and one of the things that you highlighted, I want to just quote here.

You said there has to be a fierce reaction in the year that the authoritarian starts to dismantle the Constitution.

Well, this is the year. And I was reflecting on this as I was thinking about what happened all across the country and what happened in my home State of Minnesota and I am sure in Oregon as well with these huge demonstrations that we saw all over the country. I am going to ask you to reflect a little bit more on what you said last night and what we have seen here with this reaction to the authoritarian activities of the President.

But I wanted to just share that what I saw in Minnesota was really remarkable. By all accounts, nearly, you know, maybe up to 100,000 people turned out just in Minneapolis, which is, you know, the biggest city in my State. Minneapolis and Saint Paul are roughly 2.5 million people all in. And we had 80 of these events all over the State.

What I saw--and I am wondering what you saw in the demonstrations in Oregon--what I saw was incredibly patriotic people showing up--people who love their country and want to keep it, people who understand that in this country, we swear allegiance not to a King but to our democratic values and to our Constitution. It was remarkable to me to see that love of country and that patriotism.

I also saw--and I would love to hear your response to my question and comments--I also saw a lot of people turn out at these big events who don't typically come to these, don't come to political demonstrations. It is just not their thing. But they felt compelled to do this, maybe because of what you were talking about, Senator Merkley, earlier, which is they understand there needs to be a fierce reaction in the year that an authoritarian starts to dismantle the Constitution, and they were there to demonstrate their allegiance to our Constitution.

So maybe I will pause there, Senator Merkley, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

If the Senator would yield for one more question?

I want to just follow up on something that you talked about with the attempt by the Trump administration to consolidate and get some control over our voting process in this country. One of, I think, the strengths of our country is while we should have high national standards for free and fair elections, we have control over elections at the local level, and that gives our electoral system a lot of resilience.

I want to just thank our Secretary of State in Minnesota, Secretary of State Steve Simon, for refusing to provide to the Trump people our voting rolls and data about our voters as a way of protecting our local control over our ballots.

And I want to just follow up also with what the Senator from Oregon was talking about with the way that the President is ignoring the rule of law, ignoring the article I--you know, ignoring the powers of Congress, and, you know, I was thinking a lot about what the preamble of our Constitution says.

I mean, the preamble of our Constitution says:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic

Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the

general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to

ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this

Constitution for the United States of America.

That is the promise that we all make each other in this great democracy. And what I think we see happening--I wonder if the Senator would like to comment on this--what I think we see happening is that President Trump is trying to undermine that promise, and he is trying to exhaust us and distract us and make us feel like we actually don't have any power to have much of an impact on what he and Russell Vought and his administration do and that that will cause us to just give up and give in.

But, of course, Americans are stronger than that. Americans are more resilient than that. Americans care more about their democracy than perhaps Donald Trump believes or expects.

And one of the powerful things that I see happening, that I saw happening this weekend and I see happening all over this country, is Americans standing up and saying, basically, we know a bully when we see him. He is not as strong as we think that he is. And he is not as strong as he wants us to believe that he is, and we are going to stand up to it.

And that Senator Merkley gives me a sense of faith and a sense of hope as I see people put their faith in this democracy into action every single day in the ways that are meaningful for them personally.

Mr. President, in May, Minnesotans suddenly lost Evan Berquist, of St. Paul. His kindness and thoughtfulness touched the lives of so many people in Minnesota and around the world who miss him dearly. I wish to extend my deepest sympathy to his family and loved ones as they continue to mourn his passing.

I ask unanimous consent that his obituary be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor Charlie Zelle, who is retiring today from his role as chair of the Metropolitan Council in Minnesota.

Charlie has been a visionary leader for Minnesota. His leadership has transformed our State's infrastructure and allowed us to flourish as a hub of industry and prosperity, and generations of Minnesotans will benefit from his legacy.

Charlie's passion for transportation is rooted in the family business, Jefferson Lines intercity buses, of which he remains chairman. He was born and raised in Saint Paul and received a B.A. from Bates College and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management. He has been recognized for his work in transportation policy as a recipient of the George Rucker Award by the Community Transportation Association and the Ray L. Lappegaard Distinguished Service Award by the Center of Transportation Studies.

In addition, Charlie has been a hilarious and enthusiastic friend to Archie and me, an energetic and loving husband and dad to his family, and an active and engaged member of Minnesota's civic and arts community.

Since 2020, Charlie has chaired the Metropolitan Council, the regional planning and policy organization which works with local governments to provide essential services to the Twin Cities metro area, including transit, clean water, parklands, and housing planning. The lives of millions of Minnesotans are better by Met Council's services and Charlie's leadership. Charlie's hallmark accomplishment is his tireless advocacy for a robust public transit system that gets people to work, school, medical appointments, and fun efficiently and easily.

Charlie also served as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation for 6 years in the Dayton administration, where he implemented a bold, statewide vision to bring Minnesota's infrastructure into the 21st century. His careful stewardship of Federal and State resources helped repair numerous roads and bridges and to improve the safety, mobility, and economic vitality of Minnesota communities from the most rural to the most urban.

Congratulations on your well-earned retirement, Charlie. Minnesota thanks you for your incredible leadership, and we look forward to seeing where you next chose to direct your talent and love for our community.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the late Robert Fleming of Minnesota. Robert passed away in Phoenix, AZ, at the age of 97 on July 31, 2025. He was chairman of the U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey committee for five Olympics, including the 1980 ``Miracle on Ice'' gold medal-winning team, and dedicated three decades of his life to the sport. He and the 1980 team were inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004. He brought a new awareness to hockey, and he developed youth and collegiate programs across the country, helped men's and women's teams perform on the international stage, and inspired generations of athletes.

Robert also had a rewarding career at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where he worked for 43 years, eventually serving as the chief administrative officer for the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, where his work helped run a hospital that serves millions of patients. He was also president of the Medical Group Management Association and received the organization's highest honor, the Harry J. Harwick Award.

He loved his cabin on Beaver Dam Lake in Wisconsin and was committed to making sure his kids and grandkids got excellent educations. Robert is survived by his wife Cynthia, as well as

four children, 16 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren. We are all grateful to Robert for what he has done for Minnesota and the country. May his memory be a blessing.

Mr. President, I stand before this body trying to make sense of the terrible shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, just a couple of miles from where Archie and I live in Minneapolis, and I can't. I can't make it make sense.

You know, I know this neighborhood really well. I have lived in and around it for many, many years. I also know Annunciation School. Annunciation School is one of those places where, whether your kids go there or not, it is 2 degrees of separation from everybody that you would know. If it is not your child, it is someone that you know, their niece, their nephew, their grandchild, their child.

Here in Annunciation Catholic School, on a fall morning, sweet children were gunned down when they went to mass to celebrate the beginning of the school year, and their sense of peace and safety was shattered like the church windows that the bullets flew through.

Fletcher Merkel was 8 years old. His dad said that Fletcher had an infectious smile, and he danced with every touchdown he scored in flag football, and he loved his family and his friends, and he loved fishing and cooking.

Harper Moyski was 10. Her parents say that she was a bright, joyful, and deeply loved child whose laughter and kindness and spirit touched everyone who knew her.

There were 21 others shot that morning. There is a 12-year-old little girl in critical condition. Her mother, who is a pediatric nurse at the ICU in Hennepin County Medical Center, rushed to the hospital when she heard that there was a shooting, only to find her own daughter in the emergency room.

Another supervising nurse there rushed to the ER to help even though it wasn't her shift, and when she did, she found a little girl who was so scared and so terrified that she climbed into the CT scan with that little girl to stroke her hair and hold her hand so that she would not have to be alone.

There is another little girl whose dad is a gym teacher at Annunciation, and she is still in the hospital recovering from surgery yesterday, but she seems to be moving in the right direction. She was hurt while she was shielding her little buddy, which is what she called the therapy dog.

A fifth grader recounted how, after the shooting, he was worried that he had gotten some gunpowder on his neck, and it turned out that he had been hit by a bullet fragment that lodged so close to an artery that he needed to have surgery to remove it. He had dived under a pew, and a friend of his had crawled on top of him to protect him from the gunfire, and that friend was shot in the back.

So here we are--incredible bravery from these kiddos and their families, heroic efforts of the teachers and first responders and law enforcement and also of the doctors and nurses in the emergency rooms who saved their lives. And we have all of these feelings of grief, of rage, of frustration, I think even confusion.

You know, these school shootings are searingly personal to people, and also they are often so public, and they are not uncommon. Just in Minnesota, we remember the two students that were killed at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, MN, and we remember the nine students killed and seven injured at Red Lake Senior High School on the Red Lake Nation. And we ask ourselves all the time when this happens: How can this happen? How do we let this keep on happening?

We are, you know, thrust into this tragic cycle of collective grief and frustration and anger. Our hearts are broken for the families and the loved ones whose lives and sense of security and safety have been stolen, and our voices call out for change to end this scourge of gun violence. Our anger and frustration grow when people feel like their voices are being ignored.

I am angry because we keep choosing to protect the interest of this big gun lobby rather than the lives of our little babies. And we can do better than this. Only in this country do we see this toxic mix of hatred and guns cost so many lives.

There are over 400 million guns in this country--more guns than people. The shooter in Minneapolis was able to buy these guns that they had legally and then fire all these rounds into a church sanctuary from a rifle that was designed not for hunting, not for self-defense, but for killing people.

Mr. President, I have been in the Senate now for nearly 8 years, and I am a realist and I know how this goes: the hopes and the prayers and then the moving on.

I know how this goes.

But I am also an optimist. I believe that if we don't try, nothing will ever change. So I ask this body to listen to the words of people-- not political people--who are pleading for change, who are asking us to pray by moving our feet and to take action.

As my dear colleague Senator Klobuchar said, Pope Leo asked this past weekend for us to ``plead to God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.''

Annunciation principal Matt DeBoer said:

We can't change the past, but we can do something about the

future. There is an African proverb that [goes]: ``When you

pray, move your feet.'' So I beg you, and I ask you to please

pray, but don't stop with your words. Let's make a difference

and support this community, these children, [and] these

families and these teachers, [and] never again can we let

this happen.

A Minneapolis student wrote an opinion piece for our newspaper, the Star Tribune. They said:

Do not offer thoughts and prayers as you systematically

enable these tragedies. Do not claim prayers are sufficient

when children die as they pray. Do not pretend you do not

understand.

Sam Hasler has a 4-year-old and a 5-year-old, children who are at Annunciation. This is what he said:

I'm heartbroken this happened. That the third day of school

was marred by something my kids may carry forever, even

though they weren't physically harmed. That the joy of a new

school year gave way to fear almost instantly. I'm sad

knowing this will happen

again--in another school, in another town--and we'll do it

all again. The GoFundMes. The social posts. The trauma

interviews.

Sam continued:

It always comes back to the guns. We are not the only

country with mental illness. Or social media. Or divided

politics. But we are the only ones where this happens again

and again--and we shrug and stall because regulating weapons

of war is somehow off the table. If the right to own these

guns matters more than children's right to live, then say

that out loud.

That is what this father said.

[L]et the rest of us decide how to live in a country like

that. For me, though, that is not OK. That is not normal.

Harper Moyski's grieving parents said:

While our immediate focus is on Harper and our family's

healing, we also believe it is important memory fuels action.

No family should ever have to endure this kind of pain. We

urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to

address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this

country. Change is possible, and it is necessary--so that

Harper's story does not yet become another in a long line of

tragedies.

These are the words of people who have lived through this tragedy.

Colleagues, this body has shown that we can take steps to keep our children safer. After the tragedy in Uvalde, my colleague Chris Murphy and Republicans joined together to write the Safer Communities Act, which invested billions of dollars to help Americans, and especially young people, get the mental health support they need. And it took important, meaningful steps to make it harder for dangerous people to get guns. There is more work to do, but we showed we can make progress.

Today, I plead with my Republican colleagues to stand up to this administration as it is refusing to fund those local violence prevention initiatives--those grants that we funded in a bipartisan way through the Safer Communities Act.

We should undo the cuts to Medicaid that just got pushed through with the One Big Beautiful Bill. It is the No. 1 source of insurance for people who are seeking mental health care in this country. We should condemn the Secretary of Health and Human Services when he says, with no basis, that somehow anti-depressants cause school shootings. Then we should come together and negotiate in a meaningful way to keep assault weapons, like the ones that killed and injured the students of Annunciation Catholic School, out of the hands of dangerous people.

We know there is no one answer to this terrible scourge of gun violence that is killing our children; there is no one thing that we can do to change the shameful statistic that the No. 1 cause of death for children in this country are firearms. But because there is no one answer doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. We have to try.

So to any Minnesota children--especially those who go to Annunciation School, who are listening right now--I just want to say to you this: Your community loves you. Your family loves you. And we are going to do everything we can to keep you safe. I am in awe of your resilience, but you should never have to go through what you have been through this last week. I am so sorry that the adults have not done enough to keep you safe, and we need to do better.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, many thanks to my colleague Senator Klobuchar for her heartfelt words.

I rise today because my friend Melissa Hortman, speaker emerita of the Minnesota State House, incredible person and strong leader, was shot and killed Saturday morning, along with her husband Mark, in a tragic, politically motivated attack.

State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot a total of 17 times, and Yvette--incredibly and selflessly--used her own body to shield their daughter from the attacker. I thank God that they are expected to recover.

I am filled with gratitude for the State and local and Federal law enforcement that marshaled all of their resources to keep Minnesota safe after this horrendous attack and to mount the largest manhunt in the history of our State to capture this shooter late on Sunday evening.

This was an unspeakable act of political violence, an attack on our democracy, as well as a personal tragedy.

There will be a time and a place to discuss the evilness of Speaker Emerita Hortman's assassination, the forces that drove her assassin to violence, and how we as leaders must rise to this moment and speak with one voice to condemn violent political attacks; but, today, I want my colleagues and America and everybody back home in Minnesota to know the kind of person and leader that Melissa was, and I want to think especially of Colin and Sophie, who have lost their parents, their mom and dad, and understand that they will not be forgotten by me or Senator Klobuchar or many, many thousands of people.

I hope that everyone will be able to understand a little bit more keenly the depth of our grief, the human cost to the loss of Melissa and Mark's family, their friends, their community, and to Minnesota and our Nation.

So I don't know about you, but I need a little inspiration right now, and Melissa was inspirational.

The first thing you need to know about Melissa is that she was a middle-class girl from the north metro of the Twin Cities. She was funny, she was straightforward, and she was kind. She was smart and driven and determined, and she did well because she worked hard at everything she did--from her first job making burritos to her last job leading her caucus through a deeply divided legislative session. Nothing was handed to her, and she earned it through her work. That is the inspiration of the American dream.

The second thing that I want you to know about Melissa is that she believed and acted on one of our most American of values: the conviction that we all have a responsibility to one another. We have a responsibility to contribute to our communities, and we have this unshakable belief that our country is great because we feel that conviction and that obligation to one another.

Service to and respect for others was the guiding principle in Melissa's life.

Over the last few days, there have been so many beautiful tributes written to Melissa's life and work. I see a common thread in all of these remembrances--that even in the rough business of politics, she was someone who never lost focus on our shared humanity, those shared values, and that shared goal that we should all have in public service, which is improving life for Americans. Her gift for focusing on our shared humanity helped her not only to earn the deep loyalty of the members of her own caucus but also the trust and respect of Republicans on the other side of the aisle.

Current house speaker Republican Lisa Demuth recently recalled how Melissa reached out to her at the start of Lisa's leadership--Melissa was the speaker of the house, and Lisa was coming into leadership--and how she came to view Melissa as a mentor to her leadership. Many disagreements on policy, but Melissa was a mentor to her because she brought such clarity and honesty and compassion to their working relationship.

Former senate majority leader Republican Paul Gazelka reflected on his years of working closely with Melissa. He noted that they had built a ``deep trust'' with one another because of her honesty, because of her even-keeled temperament, even though she was a very tough negotiator.

He remembered their moment of human connection as they shared a hug after the passage of a landmark public safety bill in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. That hug was in recognition of how they had worked so hard, coming from different places in such a difficult moment for Minnesota.

Melissa always approached her work by leading with compassion and respect for our shared humanity, and, of course, she was unafraid to demand that respect in return both for herself and others. I mean, she was fearless.

One of the most famous anecdotes of her speakership is--Amy was referring to this--one night--it was a long night; colleagues in this room can relate to it--it was a long night. The debate was going on and on. But there were members of the house that were making important speeches, making personal speeches about the impact of the bill that would have increased criminal penalties on certain protests.

Meanwhile, there was a group of male legislators in the back room that were playing cards. Melissa called them out on this, and these legislators--unaccustomed, I think, to being confronted with their rude behavior--expressed their indignation. Melissa's response

was pretty simple. She said: You know, I am really tired of watching women and especially women of color being ignored. She said: ``So I'm not sorry.''

Mr. President, I have to tell you that ``sorry, not sorry'' became a little bit of a rallying cry around the Minnesota State Capitol after that and is something we all remember Melissa for.

She lived her values, and she knew how to stand up for others and insisted that we all treat one another with dignity and respect as we undertake the serious work of public service, even in a political climate that too often rewards meanness and sort of a dehumanizing of one another.

Here is the third thing I want everyone to know about Melissa Hortman: She was a formidable legislator.

Melissa's tenure of public service began long before her election to the Minnesota Legislature. She was an intern in this very body for then-Senators Al Gore and John Kerry. After law school, she served as a clerk in our State's court system and then as an assistant Hennepin County attorney.

She first rose to prominence after winning a housing discrimination case as a legal aid attorney. What she won for her client was at the time the largest civil award in Minnesota history for housing discrimination--and she was 27 years old.

She volunteered on campaigns and ran for office twice, losing before she won and came to the Minnesota Legislature. She was tenacious.

Once elected, her talent was immediately obvious to her caucus. By her second term, she was already mounting and growing in leadership. By the time she was elected speaker, she had a remarkable record as a negotiator, an honest broker, someone who was true to her principles even when she had to make tough choices.

Melissa's leadership during the 2023 legislative session of the Minnesota Legislature was nothing short of historic. Much has been written about the great accomplishments of this legislative session in Minnesota, but I think an underappreciated part of this was that this remarkable session didn't just happen in one short period; it happened because of years and years and years of work by legislators and organizers and activists building support of consensus, and Melissa was a part of that work from the very beginning.

The success of that legislature and that legislative session came because of her ability to see an opportunity and to meet the moment and meet it with deftness and courage, and the result has been transformational to Minnesota.

She always believed that you can make a difference for people if you work at it, and she did. Because of her leadership, more than 13\1/2\ million more Minnesota students get a healthy and free breakfast and lunch in 2024. Minnesota is on track to eliminate all lead water service lines by 2033 thanks to Melissa. More than 65,000 Minnesotans were automatically registered to vote. Minnesota, of course, is the State--we are very proud of this--with the second highest voter turnout in the 2024 Presidential election and the highest youth voter turnout by far.

Starting next year, working Minnesotans who are starting or growing or caring for their families will have access to paid leave thanks to Melissa.

In short, millions--millions--of Minnesotans are better off because of the work that she did. Her record of accomplishment is so extensive, it is hard to capture it all in just a few short minutes. It is so bitter to realize that she was only 55. She had so many more contributions to make, so much--as Melissa would say: Don't get carried away. I was just going to do my work. I was going to work as hard as I could.

It is bitter for us that her life was taken in this way, and it will now be up to all of us to carry on these fights. I will miss her leadership and her friendship as our State navigates these uncertain times.

Mr. President, I look around this Senate Chamber, and I see legislators who, like Melissa, understand that the job of a legislature and a legislator is to help fix things, not just talk about fixing things, to lift up people who need help, to build opportunity, and to use the power of our connections to one another to build a better, stronger, more fair community.

I hope my colleagues will take heart and inspiration from Melissa's example and rededicate ourselves to what it means to be a legislator, working across lines of difference to solve problems for the people who sent us here.

I want to close with a suggestion from Melissa and Mark's beloved children Sophie and Colin to all of us in Minnesota just yesterday. It is in the spirit of Melissa's directness and down-to-earthness.

She said:

If you would like to honor the memory of Mark and Melissa,

please consider the following: Plant a tree. Visit a local

park and make use of the amenities, especially a bike trail.

Pet a dog. A golden retriever is ideal, but any will do. Tell

your loved ones a cheesy dad joke and laugh about it. Bake

something--bread for Mark or a cake for Melissa--and share it

with someone. Try a new hobby and enjoy learning something.

Stand up for what you believe in, especially if that thing is

justice and peace.

May the memory of Melissa and Mark be a blessing to all who knew and loved them. May John and Yvette have a speedy recovery. And may we all find a way to recover and be better after these terrible attacks.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to call out the threat that this Republican budget and the Trump administration poses to Social Security.

President Trump and Elon Musk's ``move fast and break things'' mentality is breaking Social Security, and it is obvious that they intend to dismantle Social Security, which will hurt the millions of Americans that rely on it, that count on it, including more than 1 million Minnesotans.

Now one thing I have learned over the last 70-some-plus days is to believe these guys when they tell us what they mean to do. So when Musk recently called Social Security ``the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,'' I am sure that he meant it.

When he said entitlement spending is ``the big one to eliminate,'' I believe him.

Then, you have Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who recently said that if his 94-year-old mother-in-law happened to not receive her Social Security check 1 month, she would just wait for the next one.

Well, I have news for Secretary Lutnik. When people don't get their Social Security checks, they aren't just waiting for their next check; they could be waiting for their next meal. Secretary Lutnik is clearly not in touch with the reality that 22 million Americans, including more than 16 million seniors, would be living in poverty were it not for Social Security.

They don't have millions sitting in a bank account somewhere. They have a food shelf visit or missed rent or rationing their prescription medication ahead of them. So this is not just an inconvenience or a hassle for them, it is their security, their dignity, their health, and their well-being.

You know it is not just Musk and Lutnik that are out of touch. Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek threatened to shut down the entire Agency in a fit after a Federal judge informed him that DOGE is not allowed to root around in people's personal data.

And Frank Bisignano, a billionaire that is President Trump's pick to run the Social Security Administration, he has said that he is a ``DOGE person,'' and I believe him. This is evidently just fine with Senate Republicans on the Finance Committee who all voted for him, and I have no doubt that the rest of the Republicans in the Senate will, too, because they seem unwilling or unable to stand up to Donald Trump.

I think they are just scared. Now President Trump understands that Americans love Social Security, and so he says, ``Don't worry. My administration won't touch it.''

Come on now. Americans understand. We can see what is happening, and as my mother used to say: I wasn't born yesterday.

We can see that President Trump and Elon Musk are crippling Social Security by making it nearly impossible for people to get their benefits.

They are closing field offices at the same time that they are limiting phone service. They are gutting the Agency and firing the employees that make Social Security work.

In Alexandria, MN, for example, they have fired half the staff. In Rochester, MN, they fired 40 percent of the staff.

Since Donald Trump took office, the number of calls for help with Social Security into my office has more than

doubled compared to what it was in the same timeframe last year. So my constituents are spending hours and hours on hold and waiting and waiting for office appointments.

Every time they get a message from Social Security, it is a different story and it is confusing and it is more than irritating. It is downright scary to them.

You can call this rank incompetence or the ``don't know, don't care'' attitude of this administration, but what it looks like to me is sabotage. If Republicans are trying to save Social Security, this is a pretty funny way to go about it.

Now, tonight, they are going to try and pass a budget resolution that relies on so-called cost savings from firing Social Security employees to help pay for trillions of dollars of tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations.

There is talk about rooting out waste and fraud. I am all for that. But understand, this Agency already spends less than 1 percent on administrative overhead, which is far lower than the administrative costs typically paid by private insurers.

When they say cutting costs, what that really means is that when a senior picks up the phone looking for assistance, there is not going to be anyone on the other end of the line.

They talk about getting at fraud. Well, listen to this: The Office of the Inspector General conducted a report in 2024, which found that less than 1 percent of Social Security payments were improper--less than 1 percent.

You know, if the Social Security Administration was a private sector company, those numbers would put its competitors to shame. What is really happening here is they are trying to make it harder for people to get what they are owed, and that is, in fact, a cut, and it is wrong.

Now, I think that Americans can see what is happening. Donald Trump has surrounded himself with billionaires who don't know and really don't care about regular people who are just trying to afford their lives. They can't even imagine trying to live on $2,000 a month, which is the average benefit for a retiree in Minnesota. I mean, they probably spend more than that on lunch.

This is not what we need in this country. We need this government to answer to the people, not the billionaires.

We don't need more tax breaks for the wealthiest and most successful people, who are doing just fine, thank you very much. What we need to do is to make Social Security work better for people who have worked hard all their lives, paid in, and deserve a secure retirement.

My office has also received tens of thousands of messages from Minnesotans, and they want us to protect and to strengthen Social Security, not tear it down, and so that is what I am going to do.

Social Security is a universal benefit, and it is a promise that we have made to each other that after a lifetime of hard work, you won't have to worry about a safe, decent, affordable place to call home, a good meal to eat, and the time and the space to enjoy your life.

When this budget resolution gets a vote later tonight, I will be thinking about Social Security and about the 73 million Americans who count on it, and I will be a hard no.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, thank you, and thank you to my colleague from New Jersey for yielding for a question.

I want to just start by thanking my colleague, who is one of my dearest friends in the Senate, for using your voice in such a powerful way over the many, many hours that you have been holding the Senate floor. I know you well enough to know that you are not doing this because of your belief in the power of your voice; you are doing this because of your belief in the power of all of the voices that you have been amplifying all through the night and your belief of the importance of the millions of Americans who are so frightened and concerned and horrified by what they see this administration is doing and wanting to feel like there is somebody here who is fighting for them and who is listening to them.

The way in which you are reading these letters today and all through the night, Senator Booker, I think is a tribute to your respect for all of those Americans. So I am so grateful for that.

I wanted to take a moment, if I could, to ask you to yield for a question related to what you have been talking about.

You know, I certainly agree with you that these are not normal times in our Nation. As elected officials, it is our duty to speak up and to fight back against the abuses and the overreach of this administration and to raise up the voices of our constituents who, as I said, are both frightened and furious about what is happening.

My question to you, Senator Booker, is about some of the Trump administration's recent actions regarding immigration. My question is in three parts.

First, I think that we can all agree that our current immigration system in this country is broken. It is not working well for anyone. It is not working well for American businesses that depend on a global talent pool. It is not working well for families who want to reunite with their loved ones. It is not working well at all for those who seek refuge from persecution and believe in the promises that are carved into the Statue of Liberty.

To my colleague, I ask these questions, and I think about the issues, about the shortcomings of our immigration as the Senator from Minnesota, where our meat processing sector relies so much on immigrant labor, where the University of Minnesota is a beacon for international students studying science and technology and agriculture, where the resorts in Minnesota rely on folks from all over the country to come and make them work as little mom-and-pop, 12-cabin operations up on lakes in northern Minnesota and the manufacturers rely on, as I said, the best and the brightest from all over the world coming to serve in our State and serving our economy.

I think we know, my colleague from New Jersey, that there have been real and serious bipartisan attempts at comprehensive immigration reform debated in this body. While I might not have agreed with everything in these proposals--I suspect you might not have as well--I think we both, I am sure, strongly believe that immigration is an issue that merits real debate and real policy solutions. Our colleague who was here on the floor with us this morning, Senator Murphy from Connecticut, has worked so hard to find real, bipartisan solutions.

I believe that comprehensive immigration reform needs to ensure our national security. It needs to provide a fair and workable path for immigrants who want to come and contribute to the American dream, which is what truly makes this country great.

But here is the rub: The Trump administration's recent actions show that they are not interested in serious policy reforms that would make Americans safer or make our immigration system work more efficiently and fairly. Instead, what I think we can see is that this President has prioritized using our immigration system as a tool to restrict First Amendment freedoms, to subvert due process, and to further weaken America's global standing with our allies and our regional partners as he seeks to emulate the authoritarian regimes he so openly admires.

As just one example, in recent weeks, we have seen a number of international students targeted for arrest and deportation merely on the basis of their pro-Palestinian advocacy. These are young people who played by all the rules. They entered this country with permission in order to further their education and have not been accused or charged with any criminal activity.

Their views on the war in Gaza may differ sharply from mine or others, but I believe that the First Amendment guarantees them the right to express those views without facing punishment or reprisal from our government.

Nonetheless, the Trump administration has admitted that they are doing exactly that--seeking to punish lawfully present immigrants and in some cases even green card holders because of the political views they have expressed. The Secretary of State has invoked a rarely used section of statute that allows him to unilaterally designate for removal any alien who may cause ``potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.''

As if that is not enough, many of these arrests have been carried out in a manner that seems calculated to maximize fear and intimidation in immigrant and activist communities. Here is an example for my colleague to respond to. I want to take the case of the recent arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University who was studying the relationship between child development and our social media- saturated, globally connected world. She is here on a valid student visa, she is not accused of any crime, and by all accounts, she is a loved and valued member of the Tufts community. Her only purported offense was being one of four coauthors of an

op-ed in the student newspaper that urged the administration of Tufts to engage with students' calls to divest from businesses with ties to Israel and the IDF. For that offense, her visa was revoked with no notice, and she was arrested on the street and spirited more than 1,500 miles away, which is likely a violation of a judge's order, to await her probable deportation.

I am sure many of my colleagues, including my colleague from New Jersey, have seen the video of her arrest, which was captured by a neighbor's security camera. It is utterly chilling. She is surrounded by officers in plainclothes, with no visible insignia, no markings at all on their clothing. She is handled roughly. Her belongings are taken away from her and her hands are cuffed before being loaded into an unmarked car.

It is no exaggeration that her arrest looks like a kidnapping--one that you might expect to see in Moscow rather than the streets of Boston.

Of course, the terror of what she experienced is horrible to think about, but I also think about the thousands and thousands and thousands of other students here with a student visa or, you know, other lawful immigrants who see this and think to themselves: This could happen to me. This could be something that happens to my roommate or my student or anybody.

It seems like such a breakdown in the rule of law and the way our country should operate.

So I would like to ask my colleague: Does this seem normal or appropriate, for Federal law enforcement officers of the United States to conduct routine arrests in plainclothes, with unmarked cars, and with this overwhelming show of force for individuals who pose no obvious physical threat to those law enforcement?

Furthermore, is this not exactly the sort of operations that you would order if your goal is to intimidate and dissuade immigrant and activist communities from exercising their constitutional rights to free speech?

Does punishing people for their political speech seem consistent with American democratic values? I can't believe that we would think that it would be consistent.

I wonder if my colleague from New Jersey would like to respond in any way to this.

I ask for the yeas and nays.