RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

On 2026-09-15, Representative Al Green (D-TX-9) delivered a floor speech titled "RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE" in the House.

RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 145 (Tuesday, September 15, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 145 (Tuesday, September 15, 2026)] [House] [Page H] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the House and offer H. Res. 1486, the resolution that was previously noticed. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution. The Clerk read as follows: H. Res. 1486 Resolved, that Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, as he has violated article II, section 1, clause 8 of the United States Constitution by failing to uphold his constitutionally mandated solemn Presidential oath of office to ``preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,'' thereby demonstrating that he is a great threat to democracy and the Constitution for current high crimes and misdemeanors not cited in H. Res. 24, under which he was impeached on January 13, 2021, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate: Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. article i Our country and the lives of people within it are at risk as President Donald John Trump is a great threat to the United States democratic republic, its Constitution, and democracy, violating article II, section 1, clause 8 of the United States Constitution and its mandate to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, as he is abusing the powers of the Presidency by operating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as his vicious, quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police forces, transgressing with anonymity and secrecy, assaulting people, committing and covering up unjustified killings of civilians (including Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero) with impunity (acting as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner), terrorizing communities, and brazenly and wantonly devolving the United States democratic republic into an authoritarian regime, where unjustified killings and coverups by ICE and CBP are normalized. The case for President Donald John Trump's impeachment is as follows: ``Shall any man be above justice?'' These immortal words of Constitutional Convention delegate George Mason became the impetus for adding high crimes and misdemeanors to the Constitution as grounds for the impeachment of a President who commits injustices harmful to the republic (society) or who, if left in office, would be a threat to the republic. Ahead of the 2024 election, former Vice President Dick Cheney declared, ``In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.''. The President is reducing American democracy to an authoritarian regime. An authoritarian regime is a system of government that has no established mechanism for the transfer of executive power and limits citizens' civil liberties or political rights, often characterized by a leader with near absolute power, a powerful secret police force, low political trust, and little tolerance of dissent. The President is overseeing and defending unjustified killings. An unjustified killing is a death caused by someone--often a law enforcement officer or other authorized actor--when there was no lawful reason, immediate threat, or legal justification for using deadly force, making the act unlawful under criminal or human rights standards. The President is covering up unjustified killings. A coverup is a usually concerted effort to keep an illegal or unethical act or situation from being made public. The United States Constitution accords the United States House of Representatives the power to impeach a President for high crimes and misdemeanors committed in violation of the President's mandated oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the United States Constitution, codified in article II, section 1, clause 8 of the United States Constitution. High crimes and misdemeanors need not be criminal or statutory, and are therefore not constrained by Federal criminal or civil statutes. Impeachment is a political question, as the offenses ``relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself,'' as determined by a majority vote of the United States House of Representatives. High crimes and misdemeanors committed by the President of the United States and not addressed by this body (the United States House of Representatives) through its sovereign impeachment power, unconstrained by the ostensible will of the United States Senate, threaten the very fabric and survival of the United States Constitution and our democratic republic. After having been impeached by the United States House of Representatives on January 13, 2021, under articles of impeachment in H. Res. 24, stating that Donald John Trump, ``. . . has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.'' Dangerously, President Trump continues to be a threat to the United States, democracy, the Constitution, and the United States democratic republic if allowed to remain in office, as he has replaced those he incited to assault the Capitol with ICE and CBP. On the first day of his second four-year term as President of the United States, he made it perspicuously clear to ICE and CBP officers that he would pardon them for breaches of Federal law by pardoning more than 1,000 persons convicted of Federal crimes associated with the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. He now continues to act in a manner ``grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law'' by condoning Federal investigators withholding evidence from local investigators and engaging in coverups, thereby protecting the offending officers instead of the American people. President Trump, using the powers of his high office, individually and in coordination with officers in his administration, has transformed ICE and CBP into dangerous, unaccountable paramilitary police forces that operate without oversight and pose a direct threat to the constitutional order of the United States and the people of the United States. By such abuses of power, President Trump is brazenly and wantonly devolving the United States democratic republic into an authoritarian regime. Under President Trump, ICE and CBP operate with impunity while armed with military-grade weapons and control vast resources provided by taxpayers to fund President Trump's anti-democracy agenda. President Trump has used ICE and CBP to suppress the First Amendment rights to free speech and a free press; violate the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and protections against unlawful searches and excessive force; and defy the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of due process and equal protection by allowing and encouraging racially targeted arrests, unjustified detentions, and unjustified killings. These unjustified killings include those of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero. President Trump, by his conduct, continues to demonstrate that he is a great threat to democracy, the United States Constitution, and the democratic republic, by dangerously flouting constitutional rights, including: (1) enabling ICE and CBP to act as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner by assaulting and committing unjustified killings of people with impunity, in violation of the Fifth Amendment right to due process; (2) enabling ICE and CBP to operate with anonymity and in secrecy to terrorize communities, in violation of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment right to due process; (3) enabling ICE and CBP to undermine civil liberties and basic freedom of speech, in violation of the First Amendment right to free speech; and (4) undermining judicial oversight. As a result, ICE and CBP, under President Trump's authority, have been converted into his militarized secret police forces (often acting as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner) that violate and debase, instead of uphold, the rule of law by abusing and harming those they should protect, as explicated below for each of the above topics. (1) enabling ice and cbp to act as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner when assaulting and committing unjustified killings with impunity, in violation of the fifth amendment right to due process Under President Trump's control and with the support and backing of senior officials in his administration, Federal immigration officers have conducted unjustified killings of civilians with impunity, including Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero. The Trump administration has encouraged, condoned, and covered up these unjustified killings by protecting the shooters and spreading dangerous misinformation about the shootings and the victims while obstructing State and local investigations. Preventing local investigations, congressional oversight, and judicial accountability has enabled ICE and CBP officers to act with impunity as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner. On January 7, 2026, an ICE officer shot and killed 37- year-old Renee Nicole Good, an unarmed civilian, U.S. citizen

Referenced legislation: HRES24, HRES1486, HRES1530