JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF ICE AND CBP

On 2026-09-03, Representative Al Green (D-TX-9) delivered a floor speech titled "JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF ICE AND CBP" in the House.

JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF ICE AND CBP

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 140 (Thursday, September 3, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 140 (Thursday, September 3, 2026)] [House] [Pages H5493-H5498] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF ICE AND CBP (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Green of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, and I rise as I always do, as an unbought, unbossed, liberated, and now emancipated, unelected Democrat. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, in the name of justice for the victims of persons who have died at the hands of the Federal constabulary. That would be ICE and CBP. I rise in the name of justice for these many persons, and I do so, Mr. Speaker, because Dr. King was correct: ``Injustice anywhere is indeed a threat to justice everywhere.'' So I rise in the name of preventing justice from becoming an injustice in your town, Mr. Speaker, or my town or someplace in the United States where it has not had its opportunity to visit thus far. I rise in the name of justice for the many persons who have been victims of ICE and CBP. I also rise as a person who is engaged in a countdown to impeachment. I will say more about this as I proceed. The countdown continues. For now, Mr. Speaker, I am Al Green, a person who has been censured by this House but not silenced, censured but not silenced. I use my voice to speak against injustices. I will use my voice today to speak against the injustice associated with the killings of many persons at the hands of the constabulary known as CBP and ICE. I do so to express the fact that voting for impeachment has become a matter of life and death. Voting for impeachment has become a matter of life and death. That is because the President of the United States, Donald John Trump, is covering up unjustified killings of civilians, including Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero. In doing this, the President of the United States is covering up unjustified killings of civilians, including the persons whom I have just named, with impunity wherein these persons are acting as judge, jury, prosecutor, and executioner. They are terrorizing communities, and the President is wantonly and brazenly devolving the United States' democratic Republic into an authoritarian regime. Mr. Speaker, I have accused the President of the United States of engaging in a coverup. For edification purposes, I believe we should discuss what a coverup actually is. I wanted these letters to be exceedingly large so the people viewing can read along with me. A coverup: a usually concerted effort to keep an illegal or unethical act or situation from being made public. We should emphasize the fact that a coverup is an effort, it is an effort to keep an illegal or unethical act or situation from being made public. I emphasize the word ``effort'' because the effort itself, the act of getting involved and engaged and trying to prevent something from being made known, avoiding transparency, that is the coverup. Mr. Speaker, there are some people who believe that you have to succeed and prevent something from happening forever for it to be a coverup. It can be exposed. The coverup is the effort to do it. In this case we have a President who is engaged in an effort to cover up the killings of the persons whom I have mentioned. The President of the United States has control of ICE and CBP, Customs and Border Patrol. He has control of them. Immigration, customs, he has control of ICE. He is the person who has gone so far as to defend these killings. Let's just talk about this for a moment in terms of the killings. These were innocent people, persons who are not charged with crimes or were not charged at the time, and these persons have lost their lives. They were killed, and the killings have not been justified. The killings were done by people who became judge, jury, prosecutor and executioner; judge, jury, prosecutor and executioner. In many cases, in fact, in most of them, initially it was very difficult to get any information about who the actual shooters were. In some cases we have received some information, but in others there still is not information made public by an official authority, an agent of the United States Government, as to who it is who killed the people in question, some of the people in question. {time} 1120 This concealing and preventing transparency is a part of the coverup. The coverup continues when the persons have been killed, and the President justifies the killing by saying he supports the killing that took place before an investigation has actually even begun. No investigation, just an indication from the President immediately that these persons were, in some cases, terrorists, that they were persons who were trying to harm officers, when literally we have had video to show what actually occurred in some of the cases. Literally, we have our very own eyes to depend on because it has been displayed across the globe in many cases. [[Page H5494]] Let's take the case of Alex Pretti. Alex Pretti was unarmed at the time he was shot more than nine times while he was prostrate, flattened on the ground, and had officers all around him. He was shot more than nine times, and there has been no indictment. There has been no indication that there will be an indictment from the Federal prosecutors. I remember when George Floyd lost his life at the hands of a member of the constabulary. This was local police. I remember it very well, and probably most people within the sound of my voice--or if you are watching this on C-SPAN--you remember it, too. The reaction from the country and from the world was one of great, I am going to be kind and say, displeasure. People were angry and upset. People engaged in peaceful protests. People were distraught. People literally were seen to be crying and wailing and not understanding how this could possibly happen. We have not had the same global response as it relates to Alex Pretti and some others. Somehow, we are losing that special thing that is called humanity within us. We are losing our humanity as a result of these things happening with a great degree of regularity. In losing our humanity, we are sacrificing the thing that makes us different from all of the other species. It is the humanity that we have. It is the humanity that we are losing because we are allowing this coverup to continue, to continue without our taking the effort to do that which we know can make the difference. We have to expose the coverup. One would say that would be the Department of Justice. They should expose this coverup. Well, the Department of Justice is owned and operated by the person who is the mastermind, if you will, of the coverup--the chief architect, the person who gives his blessing, the President of the United States of America. He controls the Justice Department. In fact, the person who now heads the Justice Department has gone so far as to say that he is the President's lawyer, and he is acting like he believes he is the President's lawyer. One would think that the Justice Department would be out front, transparency presented, and want the American people to understand exactly what has happened and want the American people to appreciate the fact that the wheels of justice are turning in the right direction. Not so. Not this Justice Department. The courts: One would say, well, the courts can resolve this. The courts can resolve it because the courts have the power to issue judgment--only, however, when there is a case before the court. The cases for these four persons that I have called to your attention are not before the court. As a result, the court cannot act. The Justice Department can't act. The courts can't act. What about the local investigators, the local prosecutors, the local State's attorneys? Why can't they act? Because of the coverup. Because the President and his minions, the king's men, are engaged in a coverup to the extent that the local people cannot--the local investigators, the local prosecutors--they cannot acquire the evidence necessary to bring these cases before a grand jury at the county level. They can't do it because they can't get the evidence. They are trying, but they don't have it. The Justice Department belongs to the President. He owns and operates the Justice Department. The judiciary doesn't have a case before it; therefore, it cannot act. The local investigators can't act because they don't have enough evidence. Who can act when you have this kind of coverup preventing others who have the authority to act, preventing them from having the ability to act because they don't have the evidence necessary to act? Who can act? The people who come into this very hallowed space and cast their votes. The Congress of the United States of America has been empowered by the Constitution for the United States of America. That Constitution accords only the Congress the authority--the power, if you will--to impeach a President for high crimes and misdemeanors, which need not be statutory offenses. You don't have to commit a crime that has been defined by the law to commit a high crime or misdemeanor. That is not what it is about, and that is part of the confusion. Many of the people in this country think that you have to violate some crime to be impeached. Not so. In 1868, Andrew Johnson was impeached. In Article X of the Articles of Impeachment against him, Article X, for berating and demeaning--not in those exact words, but that is the import--berating and demeaning the Congress of the United States of America. He was impeached for saying ugly things about Congress. High crimes and misdemeanors are what the Congress says they are because they are not appealable to any higher authority. There would be a trial in the Senate if there is a