PROTECTING SENSITIVE LOCATIONS

PROTECTING SENSITIVE LOCATIONS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2025)] [House] [Page H513] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECTING SENSITIVE LOCATIONS The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for 5 minutes. Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, recently an Oregonian told me that his young daughter and her friends, especially her Hispanic friends, are scared at school. They are kids that are at school to learn. Then I learned why they are scared. I rise today to strongly condemn the Trump administration's unconscionable decision to rescind guidance that restricted immigration arrests near sensitive locations, including hospitals, places of worship, and schools. For several years, ICE operated under a policy that designated certain areas as safe from immigration enforcement raids. Now, Donald Trump has reversed that. This decision to no longer protect schools from immigration enforcement is harmful, and it makes our schools less safe. We should all be working together to keep students safe at school. Instead of criminalizing undocumented children and children who look like they might be undocumented, we should be protecting all children from the horrors of mass shootings, which unfortunately, are far too frequent in this country. I want to be clear. Immigrant children are not hiding in American schools as the current administration wants you to believe. They are there to learn, and taking them from their schools will cause immense suffering and chaos for families and communities. These are children who may go on some day to find the next cure for cancer or write a great American novel. They have tremendous potential. Now, I ask my colleagues to show some humanity. Please join Representative Adriano Espaillat from New York and me in supporting the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act. Show some humanity for children. Help keep our schools and other sensitive locations to be safe from harmful immigration enforcement actions. ____________________