Joaquin Castro

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Absolutely. In fact, when we went into the second center, we asked them: ``Well, who is held here?'' And the administrator said: ``Children between zero and 12 years, and the youngest one we have right now is 8 months.''

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Correa for yielding. I think as Americans learned, mostly over the last few weeks, that young children were being separated from their mothers and fathers at the U.S.-Mexico border, and now have heard that the Trump administration is proposing to put these young children who have been separated from their parents in tent camps on military bases in Texas and in other places, it makes people wonder whether the Nation has lost its moral compass under this administration. Just because somebody crosses a border or presents themselves at a border, does not make them nonhuman. The United States is a nation, if anything, that stands for and has stood for freedom, for human rights, and for democracy. How can we carry that mantle when we refuse to treat people like human beings, especially young children? This has become standard government policy under the Trump administration. It is leaving lasting trauma--emotional, mental, and physical trauma--to these young kids. We should be able to enforce our immigration laws and still respect people's humanity. So I have been encouraged to see so many Americans speak up against this abhorrent policy. So many Americans from every corner of this Nation, every city and every part, have spoken up against this policy. Because this Nation has stood as a moral beacon around the world, it was quite remarkable recently when the United Nations, which the United States hosts in New York City and for which the United States is the largest funder, condemned our Nation for separating kids from their families and their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. I ask us to think about that and its significance. If we can't stop these kinds of things from happening in the United States, then I don't know that we can stop them from happening anywhere in the world. This is not only a call to conscience, it is a call to respect our Constitution, and it is a call that is not Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative but American. It is a call for respect of human dignity. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Correa for organizing this discussion today and for all of his work on this issue.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Father Martin Elsner, SJ, who passed away on February 4, 2018. Father Elsner hailed from my hometown of San Antonio, and we will miss him deeply. Father Elsner was born in St. Louis on September 1, 1931. He attended Jesuit High in Dallas and Price High in Amarillo and later continued his studies at St. Charles College. Father Elsner went on to earn a bachelor's degree in English at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama; a master's degree in Education; and studied theology at St. Mary's College in St. Marys, Kansas. Prior to his ministry in San Antonio, Father Elsner began his priestly ministry in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he served as an assistant principal at Jesuit High School from 1964 to 1968. After, Father Elsner was appointed Rector-President at Jesuit High School in El Paso, Texas, where eventually he also served as both President and Principal. After three years in school administration in El Paso, he was Pastor for eight years at St. Joseph Church in Houston, Texas and was also a religious leader at the Metropolitan Organization in Houston. Continuing his ministry in Texas, Father Elsner became a Pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Antonio where he remained until just last year--serving twice as a Pastor and many years as an associate. Father Elsner was also active in the Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and was also spiritual director at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio from 2011 to 2017. Father Elsner was a true pillar in San Antonio and to the state of Texas--always giving back to the community and making our state shine it's brightest. Father Elsner was very active in the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, as well as the Southside Consortium for Catholic Schools and Westside Catholic Schools. He also frequently served as a celebrant for the televised Mass on Catholic Television of San Antonio. Throughout his lifetime, he received awards of Outstanding Leader recognition from the archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools in 1997, and the Benetia Humanitarian Award from the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence in 2013. These awards don't even fully explain what Father Elsner accomplished in his lifetime. Father Elsner was a kind and humble man, dedicated to bettering the lives of the people in San Antonio and everywhere else he spent time. His footprint is everlasting, and his leadership as an educator and religious figure to many will be greatly missed.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize our congressional prayer leader today, Rabbi Mara Nathan, and thank her for being here. Rabbi Nathan began her tenure at Temple Beth-El in San Antonio in July 2014, where she was the first woman to serve as senior rabbi of a major congregation in the State of Texas. At Temple Beth-El, Rabbi Nathan spent her time contributing to her congregation through community building, worship innovation, and teaching Torah to learners of all ages. Prior to being ordained in 2000 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, she received a bachelor of arts degree in history as well as certificates in Jewish studies and women's studies from Northwestern University in 1993. During her studies, she was a recipient of the Steinhardt Fellowship, a scholarship awarded to rabbinical students to further informal education with teens and college-age students, and received academic awards for Hebrew, history, and Talmudic studies. Before coming to San Antonio, Rabbi Nathan served almost 20 years at Larchmont Temple in New York, from 1994 to 2014, playing an instrumental role in all aspects of congregational life, including spiritual worship, ritual, and teaching. We are happy to have Rabbi Nathan; her husband, Larry; and their children, Isaac, Solomon, and Miriam, in the San Antonio community. Thank you, Rabbi, for your words of inspiration.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I speak tonight on the issue of the DACA program. In 2012, President Obama issued an executive action to allow 800,000 young people, known as DACA kids, to remain in the United States. These are young immigrants who were brought here at an early age by their parents, people who had no choice in whether to come to the United States, but, for many, this is the only home and only Nation they have ever known. These young people now face the threat of deportation if Congress does not act as soon as possible. And certainly, by March 5, 800,000 young people will become subject to deportation. Already, there has been a cost to Congress' inaction. Every day, 122 of these folks become subject to deportation. We all understand in this body the long history of immigration to the United States and the incredible contributions that immigrants from around the world have made to our Nation. These are people from Germany, Ireland, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. From literally every corner of the globe, people have come here lending their talents, their energy, their creativity, and their passion to making sure that the United States remains the greatest Nation on Earth. That is the case with the DACA kids. Today, I am joined by several of my colleagues who are going to share some stories about DACA recipients, their lives, and the contributions they are making in our American communities and in American life. But before I yield to my first colleague, I want to run through, for a minute, the requirements for somebody to be a DACA recipient. This has sometimes been, obviously, a very passionate, sometimes heated debate about what should happen with the DACA recipients and whether the Congress should even commit itself to coming up with a DACA solution. Whether it is people making comments on television or sometimes comments you read online, it is clear that there is a lot of misinformation out there--sometimes, willful misinformation--about who these people are. So I want to read real quickly the requirements for somebody to be a DACA recipient. First, they were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012. Second, they came to the United States before reaching their 16th birthday. Third, they have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time. Fourth, they were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making the request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS. Fifth, they had no lawful status on June 15, 2012. Sixth, they are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general equivalency development--GED--certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States. And, seventh, they have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors, and did not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety. This addresses two of the common questions or, sometimes, criticisms that you hear about the DACA program, which, first, is the idea that some of these folks are criminals. Well, it makes very clear in these requirements that that cannot be the case. And then, second, this idea that, hey, these folks, if they wanted to, they could have just become citizens. Again, number five was: had no lawful status on June 15, 2012, when the program commenced. These are energetic, hardworking folks that we can be very proud of who are making significant contributions to American society. Congress must act--and we should act this week--to come up with a DACA solution, to make sure that no more of these kids are subject to deportation, that their lives are no longer left in the balance, and that their futures are secure. These are folks who are in college, who have graduated and have gone into different fields, different professions, teachers and many other different professions that are represented by the DACA students now. Congress must act to make sure that they can stay in the country. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Barragan).

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. I thank Congressman Correa. He is right. The DACA kids are going to school with our kids, are going to college with our kids, are in our workplaces. They are people who are contributing and whose futures hang in the balance, depending on what this Congress does or does not do.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Certainly.

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

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, before I bring up my next colleague, Congresswoman Barragan talked about the incredible DREAMers, DACA recipients that are in her district, and I have many in my district. I represent a very large city in Texas, the city of San Antonio--I have the main San Antonio district--and you can imagine that we have our fair share of DACA recipients in San Antonio. I want to read, really quickly, the story of just one of them. Her name is Lisa. Lisa is a first-generation American who immigrated to the United States from Canada in October 1996 at the age of 6. Lisa learned she had, unknowingly, overstayed her visa on December 19, 2010, just a day after the DREAM Act stalled in the Senate, when she received, in the mail, a notice to appear in immigration court, which is the first step in deportation proceedings. She went to elementary, middle, and high school in San Antonio. During that time, she was a Girl Scout, logged more than 700 hours of community service during her high school years, and spearheaded a fundraiser that raised $10,000 to help pay for the bone marrow transplant of a young leukemia patient whom she had never met. In 2008, she graduated from a San Antonio high school with summa cum laude honors, ranking in the top 6 percent of her class. She spent the summer working as a congressional intern for the United States House of Representatives, right here--for my predecessor, Charlie Gonzalez-- before heading to Northwestern University to study journalism and political science. Lisa was sitting at her college graduation ceremony on the day that President Obama announced the DACA program, June 15, 2012. Her work permit has enabled her to take out a mortgage, buy a car, get a job, pay taxes, renew her driver's license, and repay six figures--about $114,000--of student loans used to fund her Northwestern University degree. Today, Lisa is a communications associate at a nonprofit. As a reporter, Lisa's work has been published in The Washington Post, Huffington Post, San Antonio Express-News, Boulder Daily Camera, The Denver Post, and several other places. Her story is just one story of the incredible folks who are part of the DACA program that are contributing to the greatness of our Nation. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres).

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Congresswoman was talking about the support for DACA, and it is true that surveys consistently show that the American people support the DACA kids at about 83 percent or so. That is an incredible, overwhelming majority support for this program. She mentioned the possible tradeoff. There has been this argument that we should pass a clean Dream Act, for example, which is a DACA fix, and whether it should be paired with anything else, like, if we are going to pass a DACA bill, what is the price to pay for that? That is the common debate. What is the President, or what is the majority, going to demand for that? But as Congresswoman Torres mentioned, I would just point out that that 83 percent support among the American people is not 83 percent only if you build a wall. The American people don't say: We support the DACA kids, but only if you build a wall across the United States of America. They say: We support the DACA kids, and we want to make sure that those kids can stay and continue to live in the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, Congressman Costa, for his remarks. He made several very important points. One of them was the economic benefits of the DREAMer population, the DACA population, on their communities and how not only for California and his district, but for so many other parts of the country where you do have DACA recipients, it would be a real economic blow to deport these folks, to uproot them from the communities and simply get them out of here. It would be an economic blow to the economies of those cities and towns and States and, of course, to our Nation. The second thing that I thought was very important is really the human element that right now, as you can imagine, these 800,000 young people are watching the United States Congress. Their parents, their brothers, their sisters, everybody who loves them realizes that their future hangs in the balance. They are living in fear and incredible anxiety wondering whether they are going to be allowed to stay in what is for most of them the only place they have ever known as home. It would be like deciding that I am going to go live in Egypt or live in Uruguay or anywhere else. I simply have no connection to those places as home. That is what these young people are facing if this Congress refuses to act. That is what they are facing now.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for being a champion on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto).

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Soto for his wonderful words. He also brought up a few important things that I think we need to remember. The first is this issue of DREAMers, or undocumented immigrants, is often in the American debate reduced to the idea that all of these folks are Mexican or from Mexico, when, in fact, it is actually a very diverse group of folks who are in the category of DREAMers or who are part of the DACA program. So I would like to ask Mr. Soto to describe the community that he represents around Orlando and some of the different groups that are represented in the DACA program.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, there are people of European descent, of Asian descent, certainly of Latin American descent, and of African descent who are part of the DACA program. So I am glad that the gentleman went through the variety, the diversity of the people in his area who are part of this program. Now, bear in mind, my grandmother was from Mexico. My grandmother came here around 1922 as a 6-year-old orphan. I remember a few years back, this professional genealogist for a publication looked at my family's history because we had never formally looked it up, and she found the documents of when my grandmother came to the country. I remember there was a box in the form that said, ``Purpose.'' In other words, the purpose for why she was coming. And it said, ``To live.'' I mean, that is how easy it was back then around 1922 to come to the United States, to live in this Nation. It obviously has become much tougher since then. It just speaks to the wonderful, incredible diversity of people who have come here from different places around the world. And then Congressman Soto mentioned one other important thing, which is the historical context by which we find ourselves in this place. When you think about it, there is this intense debate going on right now and this incredible push to do a DACA fix by the end of the week, hopefully; and a lot of people, I think, who may not have followed the volleying and the back and forth for a while are wondering why this is such a crisis now. We know the immediate answer, which is, if we get to March 5, there are 800,000 of these young people who will be deportable, subject to deportation, who are part of the DACA program. Already, every day that passes, 122 more become deportable. There was an opportunity a few years ago to deal not only with this part of the immigration issue, but to achieve what is called comprehensive immigration reform. And by ``comprehensive,'' that just means that you are dealing not just with one part of immigration, but you are dealing with all of the different issues associated with immigration. So it was DACA, but it was also issues with visas, like tech visas and agricultural workers. It was dealing with the parents of the DREAMers, for example. And that bill that passed through the Senate with 68 votes, a wide majority in the Senate in 2014, it came over to the House and, based on public reports and what the Members of Congress had stated their support would be for or against that bill, there was a majority, over 218 Members--again, based on public reports; we never took the vote, but based on public reports--who said that they basically would have supported a bill like that. At the time, Speaker Boehner refused to put that bill on the floor for a vote because of something called a Hastert rule. The Hastert rule is basically an informal rule that says that the Speaker of the House won't put a piece of legislation on the floor for a vote unless that piece of legislation already has the support of a majority of the majority. And at that time, the piece of legislation, even though it probably had 225 or 230 supporters in Congress, a clear majority to pass, didn't have over 50 percent support of the Republican Conference, which represented the majority party. Now, my last point on this, and I know you know this, but when a Speaker governs with the Hastert rule, oftentimes the will of the majority is ignored in this House of Representatives, but it also does something very insidious. It allows about 25 percent of this body to control 100 percent of the legislation that comes through here. So I thank the gentleman for bringing up the history and the context because this Congress and this country missed an incredible opportunity in 2014 to deal not only with the DACA issue, but also with the many other issues associated with immigration. So I thank Congressman Soto. Now I yield to Congressman Correa, a wonderful new Member from California, and welcome him.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. He is right. And they are part of a long legacy of immigrants to this country. The United States has this paradoxical history when it comes to immigration. We are, of course, very proudly a nation of immigrants, but each wave of immigrants has also faced its own bouts with discrimination. When the Germans came here in the 1800s, they were said by some to be too dirty to be considered Americans. The Irish were greeted in cities like Boston and New York with signs that read ``NINA,'' no Irish need apply, for the jobs that were available. The Chinese were excluded from our country for decades. During World War II and the frenzy that ensued, Japanese Americans, but also Italian Americans and German Americans, were interned, including in my home State of Texas. In every generation Americans have also stood up and changed course and become more welcoming for each of those groups, and I believe that, in this generation, in this time, this is part of that shift, for Congress to finally address this issue head-on and fully welcome these DACA kids as Americans and pass legislation to do that. I thank Congressman Correa for his words. I yield to Congressman Suozzi, from the other side of the country, the wonderful State of New York, a freshman Congressman.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressman for sharing his dad's life story and what this country meant to him and the importance of coming up with a solution, a fix, as soon as possible.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for reminding us of something that is often lost in this conversation and debate, which is the fundamental humanity of the people that we are talking about. Whether they have a green card, whether they are documented or undocumented, the fact that we are talking about the lives of human beings, too often that is lost in what is sometimes a contentious debate.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. There is no question that for a lot of them, as you talk to them, you can see what a soul-crushing experience it is, and, as your dad wrote in his yearbook, I think many of these kids have the same feeling. They want to be fully accepted as real Americans, which they obviously feel part of this country, feel like it is home, but are not sure whether America accepts them.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, just to make some closing remarks before I yield back the balance of my time, Congress has to take action now. We can't wait any longer for another 122 DREAMers every day, DACA recipients, to become subject to deportation, and certainly can't get to March where 800,000 of the DACA kids will lose their futures in America and become subject to deportation. The issue of immigration and border security, all of these things are among the thorniest issues in American life no matter where you go in the country. But we are a nation of immigrants, and this is one way that we will gauge the soul of this Congress and of this Nation and determine whether we are going to continue to live up to the Nation that we strive to be, which is a nation of immigrants, of people from different countries who have made such a beautiful, incredible, strong and powerful nation, have crafted that Nation together. And I would just remind those who are against the DACA kids, who would argue for inaction, who argue that they should get the hell out of here, that this country has been blessed throughout the generations that people from every corner on Earth have wanted to come to the United States of America. Fifty years ago, if you asked somebody who was living in Europe or Asia or Latin America or anywhere else around the world where on Earth they would want to go if they were going to leave their home country, the answer 50 years ago was very clearly the United States of America. There is a scarier day in this country than the day when everybody wants to come here. That is the day when nobody wants to come here. The challenge for all of us as legislators and basically as Americans is to make sure that when you ask that same question of somebody 50 years from now who is living abroad where on Earth they would want to go if they were going to leave their home country, that they still feel comfortable believing it is the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank all those who have served our great Nation in the Armed Forces. On Veterans Day, we reflected on the sacrifices these brave men and women have made to keep us safe. Yet few Americans realize that U.S. citizenship is not required for military service, and even fewer know that our Nation has gone as far as deporting veterans. My colleagues and I in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus visited the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana, Mexico, to learn more about this issue. We heard stories about their service, deportation, and separation from family members. Ivan Ocon was born in Mexico and came to the United States when he was 7 years old. He enlisted in the Army after high school, ``to serve the only country he knew to be his home.'' Ivan deployed to Iraq, Jordan, and Korea and received an honorable discharge. Ultimately, he was deported to Mexico and had to leave his family behind, including his U.S.-born daughter. Congress can and should pass legislation that brings these deported veterans home.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York for her comments. This humanitarian crisis in Burma, or Myanmar, requires international attention and action, as Representative Tenney said. The actions of the Burmese State in ethnically cleansing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya demonstrate this need for international action. The most immediate need is to facilitate access by NGOs and international organizations in the Rakhine State. There are tens of thousands of Rohingya internally displaced within the Rakhine State. Violence against Rohingya, including the burning of villages, continues despite international condemnation. Just yesterday, a full month and a half after the beginning of this crisis, 11,000 Rohingya reportedly crossed over into Bangladesh. Access by international groups would allow the rest of the world to deliver assistance to the Rohingya still within Rakhine and to help prevent further violence. The United States, in partnership with our allies around the world, must also assist Bangladesh in providing for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya they lost. This includes food, water, shelter, and medicine. We cannot allow this humanitarian catastrophe to escalate further. We know a political settlement to repatriation is possible. Bangladesh and Burma have arrived at such agreements in the past. The United States and our allies must support the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Bangladeshi Government's effort to identify all Rohingya who have arrived. Given the Burmese Government's reluctance to acknowledge Rohingya as Burmese citizens, leaving them stateless, identification by the United States would assist in repatriation by defining who originates from Rakhine State. The Rohingya have suffered violence and forced displacement for decades. Hundreds of Rohingya villages have been burned to the ground, and they can no longer return to their homes, because in many cases, those homes no longer exist. The full extent of the catastrophe is not yet known, as thousands of Rohingya remain unaccounted for. More Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the past 2 months than remain in Rakhine State. Would the Rohingya want to return if given a chance? What would need to be done to create the conditions required for such a return? Tackling the underlying issues that led to the violent displacement of the Rohingya will take decades to resolve, the most important of which will be a military that lacks transparency or oversight; that is, the Burmese military. Burma's Government and military currently face a dozen separate insurgencies against forces claiming to represent minority communities. While the Burmese Government has taken steps to reach a cease-fire and political agreements with a number of these groups, continued fighting in various parts of the country undoubtedly contributes to the military's independence and free rein. Allowing the Rohingya to be comfortable in Burma will require assurances by the Burmese Government to respect the rights of Rohingya to live on the land they have lived on for hundreds of years. This can only come with citizenship for the Rohingya, and greater democracy, where the government is responsive to the needs of the population and respects the human rights and civil liberties of ethnic and religious minorities. Developing a political settlement towards greater accountability in the Burmese Government and citizenship for the Rohingya will be difficult and may take years. Important actions the United States can take include limiting our support for the Burmese military, given their complicity in these crimes. For example, Congress considered expanding support for the Burmese military this year. That will not occur, given the actions of the Burmese military. I also believe sanctions on individuals found to be complicit in ethnic cleansing, including local military commanders, are warranted. Designating military commanders in Rakhine State as Specially Designated Nationals, SDNs, would send a powerful message that these crimes will not be tolerated anywhere in the world, including in Burma. On the other hand, I would like to recognize the immense generosity the people and Government of Bangladesh have shown during this crisis. Over 500,000 people, most of whom are women, children, and the elderly, have fled to Bangladesh since August 25. The Government of Bangladesh has accepted these people and worked to provide for them within the limits of their abilities, while supporting international efforts to address the root causes of the crisis. Bangladesh, a country not much larger than Iowa, with a population of more than 150 million, faces significant challenges in taking care of this refugee population. The 500,000 Rohingya join hundreds of thousands who have arrived in Bangladesh during previous such forced migrations. Bangladesh has done an admirable job, but the limits on the Bangladeshi Government to provide for these refugee populations are real, and the nation requires international assistance. This includes assistance from the United States, the United Nations, Europe, and Japan. Countries in the region must also step up and provide support for the refugee populations in Bangladesh, especially China and India, which maintain close relationships with both Bangladesh and Burma. As I mentioned previously, we are in an age of accelerated news, and with social media, we are in an age of knowing. Things that were once far away that were hardly seen or known directly or firsthand can now be seen over the internet, on Facebook, on Twitter, on other social media. The pace at which news comes at us now can give us a case of whiplash, and governing in this body and trying to deal with even the things that just affect the United States of America, such as the hurricanes that have hit Texas and Florida and Puerto Rico, can sometimes feel overwhelming. There can be a temptation to hunker down, to look no further than our own borders, to try to solve the problems that confront us not only as Americans but as fellow human beings. These days, with everything going on in our own Nation, sometimes it doesn't seem like there is a time to take our focus off of our challenges and speak about other things, some of them far away. But it is important that we think about, that we remember, that we reflect, and that we try to solve the problems and challenges of other peoples. It is often said that the United States can't be the policeman of the world, and I believe that is true. But there are things that call our conscience that do move us to action where I believe that we do have a responsibility to act as the leader among nations in the world. The crisis in Burma, the ethnic cleansing that has victimized the Rohingya people, is one of those instances, and I wanted to speak about it today. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as with any moment in the history of our Nation, in the world, there are tragedies and disasters which sear the conscience and call us to action not only because we are American, but because we are human. Some of these tragedies are man-made, others are the work of nature. Some hit close to home, such as the hurricanes that devastated Texas-- my home State--Florida, and Puerto Rico, taking many lives and inflicting billions of dollars in damage. Some are the work of one man, like the shooter in Las Vegas, who took 58 lives. Like many in this Chamber, I have spoken up on these tragedies close to home. Tonight, I would like to speak to a humanitarian crisis far away from us; that is, the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. Since late August, 500,000 Rohingya have been forced out of their nation. The Rohingya, after being driven out of Burma, have sought refuge in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and India. Some have even come as far as the United States of America. These victims had been driven out of the country their ancestors have called home for hundreds of years through a systematic campaign of murder and rape and the destruction of entire villages and communities. It can be challenging for host governments to care for these displaced populations, which can lead to additional instability, especially in countries with low incomes or with governments already under stress to provide services to their citizens. We see this pattern worldwide. The refugees from the war in Syria have fled to Lebanon and Turkey, to Iraq, and across the Mediterranean to Europe. Over a million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon, which is over one-sixth of that nation's population. Over 3.2 million refugees have found their way to Turkey, and 600,000 in Jordan. Almost 1 million have sought refuge in Europe. There are similar crises in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen. Millions of people have fled conflicts and instabilities in these regions, usually finding refuge in neighboring countries vulnerable to instability. The United States, our own country, has already been affected by instability. In recent years, gang-related violence in Central America has driven hundreds of thousands of people both to the north and to the south. We remember the tens of thousands of primarily women and children who made their way to the United States and were able to find refuge here. Tens of thousands more, though, remained in Mexico, where the resources to care for these children are scarce. These crises have global consequences, and failure to address them early will eventually affect the United States. The United States cannot afford to treat these crises as events ``over there'' or just far away. This affects us in a very real way. These events highlight how important the concept of democracy and inclusive governance are. Democratic countries with inclusive governments respect the rights of citizens and address the concerns of even the most vulnerable and least empowered. This is why U.S. foreign assistance matters so much. We invest in the rest of the world and build the capacity of states and societies to govern in a more democratic and inclusive manner. We also empower regional diplomacy through our engagement, allowing regions to address any such instability in a single country collectively. Like many others in the global community, I welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi's rise to power in Burma a few years ago in 2015. Her election ended decades of military rule when the Burmese military government held elections and promised civilian rule. This kind of democratization, enabled by the persistent diplomacy of President Obama and Secretary Clinton, is a precious and rare event in the world and occurs only now and then. Last year, after the Burmese military drove tens of thousands of Rohingya out of the country, Aung San Suu Kyi moved to establish the Rakhine Advisory Commission under former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. This was an important step towards addressing the concerns of the Rohingya, which includes disenfranchisement, statelessness, and widespread discrimination. The situation today looks far different and far less flattering to Counselor Suu Kyi. This year, the crisis is much more devastating, with hundreds of thousands displaced. I wanted to be able to show you some of these images of the catastrophe the Rohingya face. These are, of course, just a few, but as I said, they sear the conscience and call us to action. This year, the crisis, as I mentioned, is much more devastating, with hundreds of thousands displaced. Like many others in Congress, I have been disappointed in the lack of moral leadership Aung San Suu Kyi has demonstrated. When hundreds of thousands of people are driven out of the country, their villages burned, people slaughtered, women and children raped, I would expect a Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader of a country to take action. Counselor Suu Kyi rose to power because her moral leadership and her persistence in the face of adversity inspired millions. It is deeply saddening and disappointing to witness her lack of action today. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney), my colleague.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Tenney for joining me at this late hour to speak on this issue.

Mr. CASTRO of Texas

Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.