{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2018-12-31-pt1-PgE1741", "2018-12-31", 115, 2, null, null, "FIXING THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S UN-AMERICAN IMMIGRATION POLICIES", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E1741", "E1741", "[{\"name\": \"Barbara Lee\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "164 Cong. Rec. E1741", "Congressional Record, Volume 164 Issue 206 (Monday, December 31, 2018)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 206 (Monday, December 31, 2018)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E1741]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n FIXING THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S UN-AMERICAN\n                          IMMIGRATION POLICIES\n\n                                 ______\n\n                            HON. BARBARA LEE\n\n                             of california\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Monday, December 31, 2018\n\n  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as an elected representative, but\nalso as a mother--a mother who is horrified and outraged by the actions\ntaken by the Trump Administration to deliberately separate families.\n  Like any mother, I love my children and cannot imagine being\nseparated from them. But because of the Trump Administration's\npolicies, some mothers have no choice.\n  Just this week, I have been working to reunite two mothers in my\ncommunity who were prevented from reuniting with their families.\n  The first story I want to share is of Maria Mendoza-Sanchez. Maria\nhas lived with her family in the East Bay for more than two decades.\nShe and her husband Eusebio raised four beautiful children, worked\nhard, and purchased a home in Oakland.\n  Maria went to school while raising small children and went on to\nbecome a nurse at Highland Hospital. She was beloved by her patients\nand her colleagues.\n  Maria and Eusebio tried to do the right thing. They paid their taxes\nand came forward to legalize their immigration status. And for years,\nthey were on a path to citizenship.\n  But like many families, Maria and Eusebio's efforts did not matter to\nthe Trump Administration.\n  Under President Trump's misguided enforcement priorities, Maria and\nEusebio were targeted for deportation.\n  And last summer--after more than twenty years building a life in our\ncommunity--Maria and Eusebio were torn from their children and deported\nto Mexico.\n  But over the last sixteen months, we didn't give up. We kept working\nto reunite Maria with her family--to bring her home.\n  Finally, after more than a year of work, we were able to secure an\nH1-B visa for Maria. And this past Sunday, I was honored and overjoyed\nto join Maria as she was reunited with her children.\n  But Maria isn't the only mother torn from her children by President\nTrump's immigration policies.\n  Also in the news this week was the story of Shaima, whose son\nAbdullah Hassan has been on life support at Children's Hospital\nOakland, in my district.\n  Abdullah is two years old and suffers from a genetic brain condition.\nHis mother Shaima, who was born in Yemen, has been barred from\ntravelling to the United States to be with her son because of the Trump\nAdministration's un-American Muslim ban.\n  Abdullah doesn't have much time left--and Shaima feared that she\nwould not be able to say goodbye to her young son.\n  Mr. Speaker--is this really who we are? A country that denies mothers\nsafe passage to be with their dying children?\n  No family should ever have to endure this.\n  And in the face of such unimaginable cruelty, I am proud to say that\nour community stepped up. I want to thank everyone who showed up, who\nprotested and organized and petitioned for this outcome.\n  Because of your advocacy, the State Department granted a visa waiver\nto Shaima so she can be with her son. She will be able to be with her\nson, to hug him and to say goodbye.\n  But we know that there are many other people like Maria and Shaima\nwho remain separated from their families.\n  When I went down to the border earlier this year, I saw the prison-\nlike conditions that they were keeping children in.\n  There were kids sleeping on concrete floor--with only thin emergency\nblankets to keep them warm.\n  And to this very day, there are hundreds of children in HHS custody.\nAnd Secretary Nielson can't tell us when they will be reunited.\n  Let's be clear: this isn't an immigration policy. This is a family\nseparation policy.\n  Children torn from their mothers, parents deported away from their\nkids. And it's up to Congress to stop it.\n  It's past time for us to restore--justice, dignity and common sense\nto this immigration system.\n  We need to ensure kids who have lived here their entire lives--like\nMaria's oldest daughter--can make a life in the only country they have\never known.\n  We need to get this disgraceful, discriminatory travel ban off the\nbooks, so no loved one has to experience what Shaima went through.\n  We need to pass comprehensive immigration reform so that people like\nMaria and Eusebio can come out of the shadows.\n  Mr. Speaker--for every case like Maria's or Shaima's there are dozens\nmore left unresolved.\n  Countless families have been left in limbo, unsure if or when they\nwill ever see their loved ones again.\n  Not only do we owe it to these families to fix our broken immigration\nsystem--we owe it to the country and the constitution to live up to\nAmerican values.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2018-12-31-pt1-PgE1741"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 36.0515839420259, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}