This is a lot to handle:
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Tuesday imploring President Donald Trump and the congressional body to revoke the White House’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy that includes separating families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
To get his point across, Menendez played a portion of the audio published by ProPublica this week of children separated from their parents crying out for their moms and dads at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility.
“Today I rise in condemnation of the Trump administration’s heartless, cruel and inhumane policy of separating children from their parents when they seek asylum at our southern border,” Menendez said.
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the audio released yesterday by ProPublica is worth a million tears,” he continued. “How do you submit the cries of innocent children into the congressional record? I don’t know how you do that, but you can hear it.”
He then hit play on his iPhone and put his mic to the speaker to amplify the audio on the Senate floor.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but those are the cries of innocent children,” Menendez said. “I can’t replicate it. I can’t replicate their pain. It’s time that this Senate has its conscience pricked, that it moves to action and that it challenges the president on this horrific policy.”
Menedez has been building momentum for the Senate to pass the Keep Families Together Act. Here’s the e-mail I received today from Mendez’s re-election campaign:
I can’t stop thinking about this picture. Have you seen it?
The Trump administration's policy of separating children from their parents who are seeking asylum at the border is heart-wrenching. And the long-term impact of this disgusting decision will be devastating to these innocent children.
That’s why I went to work with my colleagues Senator Booker and Senator Feinstein and developed the Keep Families Together Act. We had to do something. And the good news is every Democratic Senator has signed on to co-sponsor this legislation. Unfortunately, not a single one of our Republican colleagues has supported it yet.
This bill is crucial because it will ensure that the federal government is acting in the best interest of these children and is working to end this devastating policy set forth by President Trump.
We need to do everything in our power to end this nightmare at the border. So we need to know, do you support ending the Trump-era policy of separating children from their parents by passing the Keep Families Together Act?
Thank you,
Bob Menendez
Click here to show your support for the Kee Families Together Act.