TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about one of the
consequences of Donald Trump's refugee ban that has so far been
ignored. The day after Donald Trump issued his executive order to ban refugees
and all citizens from seven Muslim majority countries, four children
from El Salvador landed in Miami International Airport. It is a short flight from El Salvador, but the children had been
waiting a long time to come here. In 2015, they applied to come here
through the Central American Minors program that was started in 2014 as
a safe and legal way for a limited--a very small--number of children
from Central America. After submitting to DNA tests, screenings, and a long application
process, they were finally given visas, and they were on their way
here. However, after landing at Miami and passing through the Customs
and Border Protection screening, and on their way to their connecting
flight, they were stopped and pulled into a secondary inspection. For
six long hours, these children were detained in a cold room without
food or water. These children had done everything right, and waited a long time to
flee a very traumatic situation.
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