Joaquin Castro

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 753) to promote international exchanges on best election practices, cultivate more secure democratic institutions around the world, and for other purposes.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 753.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 753, the Global Electoral Exchange Act of 2019. I would first like to thank my colleague Representative Mark Meadows for his important work on this measure that he and I introduced. We passed this bill last Congress, and I urge my colleagues to do the same this Congress. This time, I hope that the Senate acts on this small but important measure that will promote best practices in election administration worldwide. This bill authorizes the Secretary of State to establish an exchange program for election officials like poll workers, judges, ballot designers, and civil society to promote best practices in election administration around the world. We would send U.S.-based election administrators and officials abroad or bring foreign administrators and officials to the United States in order to train and exchange best practices when it comes to election administration. This bill is a good idea and is needed now more than ever. Election irregularities, voter fraud, election manipulation, discriminatory registration, access to polls, intimidation and harassment while voting, and violence at polling stations are problems that have plagued countries around the world. This bill brings people together to tackle some of these problems and to ensure that best practices are promoted worldwide. Credible, transparent, and peaceful elections are the cornerstones of a stable and robust democracy. This bill furthers that principle. Madam Speaker, I strongly support the passage of H.R. 753, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure. Once again, I thank my colleague Mark Meadows from North Carolina for his support and hard work on this bill. The exchanges under this bill would be administered by the State Department and by USAID and would promote best practices and strengthen electoral institutions around the world. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 106) denouncing female genital mutilation/cutting as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and urging the international community and the Federal Government to increase efforts to eliminate the harmful practice.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 106, denouncing female genital mutilation, or cutting.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of this resolution. First, I want to thank my colleagues, Ms. Frankel and Mr. Perry, for introducing this important bipartisan measure. Every year, 3 million girls around the world are at risk of facing female genital mutilation, or cutting, also known as FGMC. It is a horrific practice that mutilates girls without their consent and can lead to chronic, long-term health problems, and it can even be fatal. Madam Speaker, the United States rightly considers female genital mutilation, or cutting, a violation of women's rights. Here in the United States, it is a Federal crime to perform this procedure on girls under the age of 18, and many other countries have similar laws banning the practice. But despite a rising global awareness about the egregious nature of FGMC, it is still a reality for millions of women around the world. It is estimated that over 200 million women and girls today have been subjected to this heinous mistreatment. We need to speak out against this injustice. That is why I am pleased to support H. Res. 106, a resolution that denounces female genital mutilation, cutting, as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and urges the international community and the Federal Government to ramp up our efforts to eliminate this harmful practice. We need to do everything we can to combat the systemic mistreatment and injustice women face around the world. So I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution to denounce FGMC. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel), the author of this resolution.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. We all agree that female genital mutilation, or cutting, is a horrific form of child abuse and a violation of women's rights. The resolution before us today is a signal to the rest of the world that the United States Congress is paying attention to this issue; we stand with the millions of women who are still being subjected to this practice; and we will not stop fighting for their right to dignity and respect. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 106, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mrs. Susan Mary Maheu Guerra, who passed away on May 20, 2018. Ms. Guerra hales from my hometown of San Antonio. She is survived by her husband, Eliberto Guerra; son, Christopher Guerra; daughters, Jessica Guerra and Trina Bacon; and seven grandchildren. Her contributions to the San Antonio community will last for many years to come. She will be greatly missed. Mrs. Susan Guerra was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 12, 1951 to Donald and Marilyn Maheu. Mrs. Guerra's journey began after being accepted at the age of 18 to the Order of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at Guardian Angel Settlement in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended St. Louis University, receiving a bachelor's degree in social work. After serving nine years as a nun, Mrs. Guerra heard another calling to care for those in her community. She began working with juvenile probations and at-risk families. Upon marrying Eliberto Guerra and starting a family of their own, Mrs. Guerra desired to do more for children in need. In 1986, The Guerra Family established the Guardian Angel Child Development Center. With over 30 years of persistence and determination, Guardian Angel flourished enrolling over two generations of children. The center has provided many with a second home. Guardian Angel is now a beacon of hope in San Antonio and its Southside community. The center offers a broad range of after school and summer programs such as computer classes and performing arts. Madam Speaker, I am proud to be part of a community that cherishes our future generations. Mrs. Susan Guerra's legacy will be felt by many as her commitment to child development has inspired many. To know of her work in bettering the lives of our kids is truly remarkable. I have no hesitation in saying that her legacy will endure.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and honor the passing of Mr. Andres D. Sarabia, a community leader in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Sarabia dedicated his life to advocating on behalf of others and guiding people to use their own voice to hold their elected officials accountable. He passed away on Friday, May 3, 2019, and will be missed by the San Antonio community. Mr. Sarabia served as the first president of Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and was actively involved with the organization's advocacy efforts for more than four decades. Through COPS, he worked to organize and empower local residents to speak up on issues that affected their communities, working to address inequities in how local government services and resources were allocated. Mr. Sarabia and COPS successfully advocated across a diverse portfolio of issues, ranging from improvements in neighborhood infrastructure to the establishment of Palo Alto College on San Antonio's south side. The organization continues to serve as forum for residents to discuss and amplify their voices on important issues. Perhaps Mr. Sarabia's most enduring legacy will be the foundation he helped establish through COPS and the steady stream of local leaders, activists and residents who have been empowered through the organization's work to engage with their government, advocate for the betterment of their community, and continue the important work of holding elected officials accountable. I join my fellow residents of San Antonio in honoring Mr. Andres Sarabia's legacy of civic engagement, leadership and service.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I first want to say thank you to my colleagues in the House, Republicans and Democrats, and also in the United States Senate who voted to terminate the President's emergency declaration to build a border wall across the U.S.-Mexico border. There is a humanitarian crisis at the border, but there isn't an invasion, and there is not an emergency of the sort that the President speaks of. What we have here is an act of constitutional vandalism, the President trying to take the power away from the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, the executive trying to steal the power of the purse from the Congress. If Congress allows this to stand, then 15, 20 years, 30 years from now, we will look back upon this as a time that gave both Democratic and Republican Presidents incredible power to ignore Congress and completely go around this body to do the things that they will in terms of domestic politics. There are landowners in Texas who are going to lose their land. This is the largest Federal land taking of Texas land, I believe, in history. Many people in Texas will lose their land. Many people will have their land values devalued, some of them very significantly, because of this. Military construction projects in Texas are also at stake: $265 million worth of Texas military construction; projects at Joint Base San Antonio, which includes those in my district, $76 million; Fort Bliss, over $50 million; $42 million at Fort Hood; Red River, $71.5 million; Galveston Naval Reserve, $8.4 million gone because the President has decided--and this Congress will have submitted to his will--to go around Congress and unilaterally build a border wall. Even those who support a wall should agree with us that this is not the way to do it. Congress funded over $1 billion, yet the President has gone around them to do more. Madam Speaker, I hope my colleagues will stand with us and override this veto.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, about 6 weeks ago, when the rumors began that the President might declare a national emergency to build his border wall, my staff and I began working with legislative counsel to make sure that Congress would have a say in what amounts to constitutional cannibalism by the President. This is the most consequential vote we will take in a generation on the balance of powers between the legislative and the executive branches of government, whether we will respect the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution, stand up for Congress, for this country, and for the Constitution, or whether we will stand down, in favor of the President. The precedent that may be set today and this week, or next week when the Senate votes if Congress allows this President's emergency declaration to stand will not have ramifications only on this matter or the building of a border wall. If the President is successful, he will likely come back for more. He will likely circumvent Congress again, in the same unconstitutional way. Not only will this President do it, future Presidents will do it. I ask you this: How are we to tell a future President, if this President is successful, that gun deaths, which number in the tens of thousands, are not a national emergency, that opioid deaths are not a national emergency, that climate change is not a national emergency? This will allow a President to sideline Congress from much of domestic policy. Bear in mind, over the years, Congress has already, on its own, I believe, given up a lot of its authority with respect to foreign policy. It is also clear that there is no emergency at the border. Border crossings are at a four-decade low. The folks who are coming today are presenting themselves to Border Patrol agents seeking asylum, not trying to get around the border. There are more law enforcement officers at our border--Federal, State, and local officers--than at any time in our Nation's history. Since its founding, this country has become the most powerful and prosperous on the face of the Earth without a border wall. That is why most Americans disagree with the President usurping the power of Congress to build his border wall. In fact, not only do they disagree with that, they disagree with using military construction money on this border project. Cities like mine, San Antonio, stand to lose millions of dollars in military construction. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this resolution.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, to be clear, my introduction of this resolution of disapproval should in no way be interpreted as an indication that the President's declaration of an emergency, or his invocation of specific statutory powers pursuant to that declaration, is even lawful in the first place. The Constitution provides Congress with the power of the purse and expressly prohibits the President from spending funds that Congress has not appropriated. Here, Congress has not authorized or appropriated funding to build a wall on the southern border. Indeed, Congress has repeatedly chosen not to do so in response to the President's multiple requests for such funding since becoming President. While my resolution disapproves and terminates the President's emergency declaration, the record should be clear that I do not believe the President's declaration, or his invocation of specific statutory powers pursuant to that declaration, was lawful to begin with.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Ms. Rita Vidaurri Eden, who passed away on January 16, 2019. A true Latina musician and icon, Ms. Vidaurri Eden hails from my hometown of San Antonio. She is survived by her daughter, Linda Palewich Alvarado; her sister Henrietta Rodriguez; a stepbrother, Ruben Vidaurri; four stepsisters, Yvan, Rita, Sofia, and Ellena Vidaurri; numerous nephews, nieces, and 5 generations of grandchildren. She will be greatly missed. Ms. Rita Vidaurri Eden was born in San Antonio on May 22, 1924 to Juan and Maria Castillo Vidaurri. At an early age, Ms. Vidaurri Eden showed a keen interest in the performing arts and was encouraged most notably by her mother who passed when she was a teenager. Left with the care and responsibility of her younger siblings, Ms. Vidaurri Eden persisted, keeping her passion for singing alive while attending night school by performing on Mexican radio, competing in music contests, and working as an advertising model. Ms. Vidaurri Eden was known for her unrivaled performance in Ranchera, a traditional Mexican country music genre that often features love ballads and odes to home. She soon earned the nickname ``La Calandria,'' or the ``Lark'' whose powerful voice resonated throughout every venue where she performed. By the late 1950s and at the height of her career, Ms. Vidaurri Eden retired from the stage, only later reviving her singing career at the age of 80. In 2001, Ms. Vidaurri Eden along with Beatriz Llamas, Blanca Rodriguez and Janet Cortez, formed a group of elder cantantes--referred to as ``Las Tesoros del Westside,'' or the beloved ``the Treasures of the Westside.'' Ms. Vidaurri Eden performed across Latin America and the nation. She performed on stage with Mexican artists such as Jorge Negrete, Cantinflas, and sang alongside Nat King Cole, Eydie Gorme, and Celia Cruz. She continued to sing until the end of her life. Madam Speaker, I stand with confidence knowing that the passing of Ms. Rita Vidaurri Eden does not mark the conclusion of her legacy. Ms. Vidaurri Eden's journey will be forever carried by her timeless music, by fans, and the countless aspiring singers who look to her as a beacon of possibility. Ms. Vidaurri Eden's passion for music could only be matched by her perseverance. Her legacy will forever be marked by countless admirations and accolades. I am proud to call ``La Calandria'' a pillar in our San Antonio community.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for Chairman Engel's leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I look forward to continue working with Chairman Engel to advance U.S. foreign policy and national security this Congress. I'd also like to thank my colleague from Texas, Ranking Member Michael McCaul, for authoring this measure with me. Mr. Speaker, U.S. Foreign Service Offices voluntarily serve in some of the most dangerous pockets of the world to advance U.S. national interests and security abroad. Changing technologies force us to adapt our security practices to ensure our diplomats' safety. This includes threats posed by location-tracking consumer devices that reveal physical locations and movements. I was glad to reintroduce the Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act last week with Ranking Member McCaul. This legislation requires the State Department to account for location-tracking consumer devices in broader U.S. embassy and consulate security policies. As lawmakers, we have a moral obligation to ensure our men and women in the line of duty have the protections they deserve. This legislation does just that. Protecting our nation's frontline civilians is not a partisan issue, it's an American issue. We must ensure our security policies and practices nimbly adapt to evolving technologies and tactics used by our enemies. That's why I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this measure.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. Antonio Gonzalez, who passed away on November 11, 2018. Mr. Gonzalez hailed from my hometown of San Antonio, and shared his life with his wife of 26 years, Alma Martinez, and their two daughters Ysabel and Sara. He will be greatly missed. Mr. Gonzalez was born in Norwalk, California on December 17, 1956, and put great emphasis on his education. Mr. Gonzalez completed undergraduate coursework at the University of California San Diego from 1975 to 1977, completed graduate coursework in Latin American History at the University of California Berkeley from 1981 to 1982, and graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio where her studied American history. Mr. Gonzalez has been a longstanding advocate for the underrepresented and the less fortunate. Throughout his career, he was a champion of voter and minority rights, building relationships with Latino communities throughout Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, El Salvador, and Haiti. In 1994, Mr. Gonzalez also assumed the presidency of the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), a nonpartisan national Latino public policy and research nonprofit organization, and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), the oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization in the U.S. During his tenure, Mr. Gonzalez conducted extensive survey research on Latino voter behavior, Latino voter mobilization, and helped triple Latino voter registration from 5.4 million in 1994 to 15.3 million in 2016. With the help of WCVI, Mr. Gonzalez founded the National Latino Congreso in 2006 where thousands of Latino Organizations meet annually. Mr. Gonzalez was also a fierce advocate for equal representation under the law. Mr. Gonzalez led SVREP in protecting Latino voting against suppressive ``Voter ID'' laws in Texas and Arizona. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Gonzalez led a successful campaign which resulted in more than 50 California school boards and cities to replace their outdated election systems with ``single member'' district election systems. From 2004 to 2016, Mr. Gonzalez hosted a weekly radio show on Pacifica's KPFK in Los Angeles called ``Strategy Session with Antonio Gonzalez,'' and steered a nonpartisan coalition of 55 organizations during the Los Angeles City Mayoral election that resulted in the first Latino Mayor in America's 2nd largest city. With the passing of Mr. Antonio Gonzalez, we have truly lost a pillar in the Latino community and a beacon of home in our nation. Mr. Gonzalez's legacy will leave a lasting impact for many years to come, and his lifelong dedication changed the lives of San Antonioans, Texans, and people around the world.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Engel and Chairman Royce for all of their help on this piece of legislation. I would also like to thank my colleague from New York, Elise Stefanik, for introducing this resolution with me, which honors the U.S.-Australia space cooperation. This year marks 100 years of close cooperation between the United States and Australia. Dating back to World War I, our nations have cooperated diplomatically, culturally, militarily, and economically. Just as we come together on other concrete issues, we must also come together to better understand what lies beyond our own universe. This July, Australia set up its national space agency. With this creation, Australia joined a chorus of nations seeking to understand our place in the universe. This isn't the first time our nations have cooperated on space. The first images of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon were transmitted to the world through radio stations in Australia. We have also cooperated on securing our people's futures through defense cooperation in space. The establishment of Australia's first space agency is an opportunity to expand on this cooperation towards a more complete understanding of all of these issues. This includes manned and unmanned exploration, research across our universities on astrophysics and other issues, and the development of commercial options to access space. This resolution recognizes the importance of this new space agency and the value of U.S. cooperation with Australia on space exploration. It also encourages our State Department to facilitate international cooperation on this issue through diplomatic channels. In doing so, we will strengthen our partnerships in the region and internationally.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of the bipartisan Global Electoral Exchange Act, H.R. 5274, which I introduced with my colleague, my Republican colleague, Mark Meadows, and also others, including my colleague from Texas, Ted Poe. I would like to first thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their support on this legislation and helping bring it to the floor. It is important to note the bipartisanship of this legislation because strengthening democracies abroad is a critical national interest and one that can be supported by both sides of the aisle. In recent years, democracies have been reeling across the world, even in our own neighborhood. This is a reversal of a longstanding trend toward democratization that continued through the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. In countries around the world, there are partners willing to work with us to strengthen their country's democracy. This is naturally in our bipartisan interests. Our strongest relationships are those with other democracies. Some examples include Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, Australia, and the member nations of the European Union. When two countries speak the language of democracy, when they each commit to the rule of law and the will of the people, the potential for a genuine partnership is formed. An election is a complex endeavor. It is an exercise a society undertakes together. To run effectively and efficiently, an election requires an engaged public, robust institutions, and a transparent, technically sound electoral mechanism. There are certain practices we ascribe to effective election systems, including a secret ballot, inclusive voting systems, chain of custody, neutral instructions to voters, and so much more of what may be considered good electoral practices. When elections are technically unsound, their results can be suspect. We saw this firsthand in Kenya and Honduras over the last year, where electoral failure led to election violence and a questionable outcome for many. It is in the interests of both the incumbent looking to be re-elected with the legitimacy that an election brings, and the challenger seeking to rise to office, to support transparent election practices. The State Department and USAID already engage in excellent work, in partnership with groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, and International Foundation for Electoral Systems, supporting democracy worldwide. This bipartisan bill augments those efforts, allowing the Secretary of State to support exchange programs with other countries to promote best practices in election administration. When we bring folks over here to show them how we do things and send Americans to other nations to see how elections are conducted overseas, we can have candid conversations on how all of us can improve. I would like to thank, again, Congressman Meadows for working with me on this bipartisan bill, and for all of his insight in making this bill and this legislation more effective. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of many Americans, enough--enough of cruelty disguised as border security, enough of inflicting pain on children to make their parents stay away, enough of picking on the weak to show that you are strong. The people in this Chamber, who are the sons and daughters of immigrants from all over the world, should know the history of this Nation, and the fact that when the Irish came here, they were greeted with signs in New York and Boston that said: ``No Irish need apply.'' Those of German descent were said to be too dirty to be Americans. Italians were interned during World War II. Are we a Nation that learns from our mistakes, or are we not? Are we a country that adheres to our Constitution and strives to achieve the words inside it, or are we just pretending? This is a special Nation, a Nation that has been blessed by people who have come here from all over the world, yet the policies of this administration denigrate the history of this country and denigrate its future. These families must stop being separated. Just because you come up to a border or cross a border does not make you nonhuman. They should be treated as human beings, most especially by a country that is supposed to be a moral beacon for the world over.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, subcommittee Ranking Member Sherman, also my colleague from Texas and the coauthor, Representative McCaul. I thank them for all of their hard work on this. Every day, diplomats work to advance the interests of the United States, often at embassies and consulates in the most dangerous pockets of the world. They risk their lives to be our Nation's frontline civilians and are faced with having to adapt to changing technologies that often come with security risks. As Members of Congress, and especially those who conduct oversight of the United States State Department, we must protect our diplomats who serve our Nation from any threats posed by evolving technology, including fitness trackers, for example, that expose location. That is why I joined my fellow Texan, Chairman Michael McCaul, to introduce the Protecting Diplomats from Surveillance Through Consumer Devices Act. This bill requires the State Department to account for these devices in the security policies of U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide and update embassy and consulate security policies by addressing vulnerabilities associated with location-tracking consumer devices worn by diplomatic personnel. These frontline civilians risk their lives in service to the United States. As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to ensure these brave diplomats and development workers have the protections they deserve. I am glad to see this bill being considered on the House floor today, and I request and urge the support of all of my colleagues.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Garamendi for his passion and his profound words on this very difficult subject, not only for Members of the United States Congress, but also for many Americans across the country. I had an opportunity yesterday, along with several other Members of Congress, including Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democratic Member on the Homeland Security Committee; Sheila Jackson Lee; Frederica Wilson; Ben Ray Lujan; and Filemon Vela, to visit two sites where these young kids are being kept in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas--one of them, Casa Padre; the other one, Casa Presidente. When we were there, I and a few other Members of Congress met two young children who were being held without their parents. They were separated from their parents. One of them was named Roger, an 8-month-old boy--8 months old. The administrators told us that his mother is actually deceased, and they believe that he had come to the country with his sister, but she was nowhere to be found. The other was a young girl named Leah. She was 1 year old, and she was separated from her parents. These are among the youngest victims of this brutal policy of President Trump in separating young children from their parents. Most Americans believe that we can enforce our immigration laws and still respect human dignity and human rights. But in going down the road that this President has taken us, he is taking us down a road where we are losing our own humanity. He is taking us down a road that is reminiscent of the worst episodes and moral failures in the country's history, the things that, as Americans, we deeply regret. Also, we have been asked by many Americans over the last few weeks in particular a common question as Members of Congress: ``What are you doing to stop this?'' We are pushing legislation. We are out on the streets. We are organizing rallies. We are doing every single thing that we can to change this, to end it. I want to say thank you to my colleagues that were with me yesterday. Thank you also to Nancy Pelosi and the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who visited San Diego; to Beto O'Rourke and Joe Kennedy, who were in Tonillo near the tent cities, near El Paso; to Frank Pallone, Hakeem Jeffries, and Jerry Nadler who were out in the New York-New Jersey area; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and others who were in Florida. Thank you to the folks in the Senate who also made a trip to McAllen, and to Senator Merkley, without whose help and support a few weeks ago in Brownsville, this issue would not nearly have had the same amount of attention. This year marks 50 years since we lost two titans in American history, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. Fifty-two years ago, in a famous speech that he gave in South Africa on their Day of Affirmation, Senator Robert F. Kennedy said back then: ``Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.'' What we are asking is for this Congress to have the moral courage to listen to the American people and do right by these immigrants.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Yes, we went into the shelter, and we visited two of them. At one of them, there were about four or five infants. They had something called an infants room. At least two of those infants--one of them 8 months named Roger, the other one a year old named Leah--had been separated from their family members. They were being taken care of by staff. But it was jarring to go into a room, to see young babies, and to realize that their parents or their family members were nowhere to be found, and that this is now standard government practice under the Trump administration.