[1]U.S. Senator Chris Murphy

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The young father was shaking as he held his fidgety two-year-old daughter
who impatiently sucked on a lollipop. Across from the father and mother
and two-year-old sat an immigration judge, who was struggling with a
missing translator, seeking to ask questions of the family in front of
him.

I had been asked to enter the courtroom by their lawyer, who was virtually
certain of what would happen the minute the family left the judge’s
courtroom. The family would be apprehended by the half dozen, plainclothes
ICE agents standing immediately outside the door, and effectively
disappeared into a shadowy nearby prison to which lawyers and elected
officials could barely gain access.

It didn’t matter that this couple had played by the rules. They came to
America to follow the process and apply for asylum. They had a good case.
They showed up for all their court appearances. And on this day, the judge
didn’t order their detainment or removal: he saw merit in their case and
scheduled their next hearing.

But the ICE officers didn’t care. They were under orders from President
Donald Trump to put in jail EVERY immigrant they could, including
children. And no matter the legal status of the family or individual.

As they got up to leave, I huddled with the family and their young,
nervous attorney. We decided we would all leave together, proceed quickly
to the elevator, and move directly, all as one big blob of humans, to
their ride in the parking lot. Our hope was that those ICE officers might
not try to cause a scene, and rip the parents and their child away if they
were attached at the hip to a U.S. Senator. Our hunch was right. The ICE
officers made a half step toward us but then froze, and the family safely
left the building.

It wasn’t the job I thought I was coming to Texas to do. I was there to
inspect two massive detention centers that house families (including
hundreds of small children) who have been ripped out of their communities
by Trump’s ICE. When I was illegally denied entry, I decided to spend the
following morning at the San Antonio immigration court, to see for myself
the dystopian world that Trump’s immigration police have created.

Families who are complying with the law come to this court. These are not
“illegal immigrants.” These are people who are doing it the right way:
showing up for court dates and making the legal case for asylum
protection. Trump’s ICE is making a mockery of the process, because no
matter how meritorious the immigrant’s claim is, most get rounded up and
put in detention as soon as they walk out of the courtroom.

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

The only remaining legal resources at the San Antonio Immigration
Courthouse.

The list of horrors I saw is long:

* Trump kicked the local legal aid group out of the San Antonio
courthouse and gave the “pro bono attorney” room (it’s still got that
sign hanging outside) to ICE to use as their interrogation room.
* An immigration judge was fired the night before I arrived, because she
insisted on implementing the law and not ruling against every single
immigrant applicant — a clear threat to any judge who is foolish
enough to follow the law.
* The ICE officers at the courthouse (who I give credit to for speaking
to me) admitted they don’t target criminals; they are looking to lock
up EVERYONE, even legal immigrants.
* A giant ICE bus sits outside the courthouse each day, waiting to be
loaded with immigrants.
* The prison many get sent to — Pearsall Detention Center — has 1800
detainees and 4 rooms for legal consultations, basically guaranteeing
most migrants never see a lawyer before the expedited fake legal
process inside the jail results in their deportation. It’s not
detention — it’s effectively a campaign of DISAPPEARANCES.

What I saw in Texas was utter lawlessness: an agency out of control,
making up its own law — with no respect for the actual law or the
Constitution. DHS is terrorizing children and families because it can.
They act like they are unaccountable.

This is the same story in Minneapolis (and soon in other cities). Trump is
constructing a personal political police force, as fast as he can. He is
looking to create confrontations and chaos — especially in swing states —
as a possible pretext for something more sinister: the takeover of state
elections. ICE is, potentially, his gateway to rig the 2026 election.

Trump’s DHS acts with impunity in places like San Antonio and Minneapolis
because it believes Congress will keep giving it blank checks. We should
not.

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

Outside of the Dilley Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas.

Next week, the Senate will vote on the annual funding bill for the
Department of Homeland Security. The current version of the bill — which
narrowly passed the House this week, with almost no Democratic votes —
does not contain any new constraints on DHS’ lawless behavior. And it
provides more — not less — money for ICE than the last full DHS budget
negotiated by the two parties.

I know our negotiators had a very hard job. I know Republicans dug their
heels in because they care more about appeasing their leader than standing
up for the Constitution. But Democrats have no obligation to vote for a
budget that funds a runaway, immoral agency just because Republicans are
so beholden to Trump, they refuse to agree to any reforms. We shouldn’t
pretend we are powerless; we aren’t.

We should demand that SOME reforms be built into the DHS budget before we
vote for it. I’m not naive — I know this budget will not cure every
problem or fully end the parade of horrors and lawlessness. But there are
meaningful reforms we could implement. Congress could require warrants for
arrests. It could return CBP to its actual mission — protecting our
border. It could require a return to prior hiring practices and increase
identification requirements or mandate consequences for violent conduct.
It could suspend funding for DHS if they keep denying Members of Congress
access to facilities. These reforms aren’t cure-alls, but they would save
lives.

[ [link removed] ][IMG]

Pearsall Detention Center in Pearsall, Texas.

On the first night of my visit to Texas, I sat with two boys who had, just
hours before, been released from an ICE prison. They were in the facility
in Dilley, Texas that I had just been denied access to. It’s called “baby
jail” by locals, since it holds most of the young children who have been
swept up in raids. It’s a barbaric place, which is why I wanted to see it.

The eyes of these two elementary school-age boys were hollow. Only once
did the younger boy’s eyes fill up with tears, when his father described
in detail the conditions of their incarceration. The older boy stared
straight ahead for the entire hour we were together. He looked alive on
the outside, dead on the inside.

They had spent Christmas in jail. They called their mother every few days
in the lead up to Christmas, begging her to get them out. They worried
every day that their friends at school had forgotten about them.

They were not “illegal immigrants”. Their father brought them here
legally. They crossed the border and immediately presented themselves to
authorities to apply for asylum. The boys and their father were whisked
away to jail when they checked in during a required court visit (like
thousands of other immigrants who have been disappeared, they were playing
by the rules). ICE could have just taken the father (which would have
still been illegal). But they took the little boys too — just for the
purpose of traumatizing them.

Their mother dropped them off that morning for the check in, their school
backpacks in the backseat. She waited for them to return. She waited. She
waited. And they didn’t come back for six weeks. Six weeks that have
likely poisoned those poor boys’ brains forever.

That night, across from the boys sat their friend from school. He looked
to be about 10 years old. He knew they were coming to meet a Senator, to
tell their story, and he wanted to be there with them.

The boys worried their friends had forgotten them. But actually, the
opposite was true. After the brothers were taken, that friend noticed the
boys were absent from school day after day. He remembered they were in
immigration proceedings. And so he told his teacher and his mom. And those
adults reached out to a local legal aid clinic who tracked down the family
in Dilley and eventually helped get the boys out of prison.

No, their friend hadn’t forgotten about them. Their friend knew they were
in trouble. He decided he wasn’t powerless. Even at 10 years of age. And
so he decided to rescue them.

A lesson the Senate could and should choose to learn. Before it’s too
late.

Every best wish,

Chris

👋An important request before you click away…

Chris Murphy is at the forefront of Democrats’ efforts to fight back
against Donald Trump. He’s trying to model the kind of leadership you
deserve from your elected officials in this moment.

It’s a tough fight that requires his full attention. Anything you can give
makes a difference because we don’t take a dime from PACs or corporations.

[ [link removed] ]Please consider making a donation to support Senator Murphy’s
Mobilization Fund. Your donation will help Chris stay on the road, invest
in organizing efforts, and mobilize people against Trump. This is a 100%
grassroots movement. Chris refuses to be beholden to the corrupt interests
and billionaires who profit off the status quo.

[ [link removed] ]CONTRIBUTE



 


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