Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) delivered a House floor speech tracing how the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant push escalated from the first raids in Los Angeles into an increasingly violent nationwide campaign, culminating in the recent deaths of two fathers, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero.  

Gomez argued that the killings were the foreseeable consequence of repeated warnings being ignored, accountability being abandoned, and Congressional Republicans continuing to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without meaningful oversight, and he put agents and officials who violate constitutional rights on notice that their actions will not be forgotten or excused. 

Watch Rep. Gomez's full House floor speech here.  

REP. GOMEZ: "Thirteen months ago, when Trump's immigration raids began in my district, I warned exactly where this was headed. I warned that if ICE agents were allowed to operate without accountability, that violence would escalate. I warned that people would die. I didn't want to be right. But here we are. 

"This isn't normal. This isn't law enforcement. This is lawlessness. No due process. No Miranda rights. Instead, some in Trump's ICE are acting as judge, jury, and executioner. 

"This is what happens when people who wear the badge are told the rules don’t apply to them. 

Over the last year, we've witnessed ICE become more violent, more reckless, and more deadly. We've witnessed masked agents jump out of unmarked vehicles. We've witnessed people tackled, beaten, and shot. We've even seen children used as bait to detain their parents. 

“And what has this administration done? What have Congressional Republicans done? Not a darn thing. No accountability. No transparency. No consequences. 

“Last week, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo left for work and never came home. His son, Ronaldo, said something every Member of this chamber should hear:  

“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE.’ He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—a husband, a father, and a job creator.” 

“Then yesterday, a little girl in Maine watched her father’s lifeless body being carried away by ICE. Think about that. Two fathers, two families, shattered. And in both cases, ICE wasn’t even targeting the men who died. 

“ICE claims these men used their vehicles as weapons. But local news video tells a different story. It shows unmarked vehicles following them. It shows what happens before the shootings. And it shows that ICE wasn’t wearing body cameras, despite its own policies. 

“This administration is asking Americans not to believe our own eyes over and over again. That is not acceptable. What’s even more unacceptable is that my Republican colleagues have watched this happen and responded by giving ICE billions of dollars more. 

“How many more families have to bury a loved one before Republicans admit something is deeply wrong? The truth is, they know it’s wrong. They’re just too afraid to say it. Too afraid of Donald Trump. Too afraid of the political consequences. And I know, and they know where this leads. 

“When these raids began in Los Angeles, I flew immediately back from Washington to conduct oversight and protect my communities. When the Trump administration tried to block me from inspecting ICE detention centers, I sued them—and won. I’ve trained legal observers to ICE document abuses, organized town halls, and introduced legislation to reclaim Trump’s $175 billion ICE slush fund and put it into housing.  

“Every Representative here has a choice. They can keep writing blank checks for fear and abuse. Or they can join us in saying enough. Enough lawlessness. Enough brutality. Enough deaths.  

“We warned this country what would happen. We warned that without accountability, that violence would escalate. We warned that people would die.  

“Now hear this warning: if you committed a crime, if you violated the constitution, if you thought a badge put you above the law, you are wrong.  

“We are watching, the American people are watching, and history is watching. And no matter who you are or the title you hold, you will be prosecuted. Accountability is coming.  

“With that, I yield back.” 

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