Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) forced the House of Representatives to hear the cries of immigrant children who had been snatched from their parents by Donald Trump’s administration Friday morning, playing the recording ProPublica released this week of sobbing, terrified children.
“Imagine being a mother and father and losing your child to the government and not knowing if you're ever going to see your child again,” he implored of his colleagues. “The horror of that. Imagine being a child, when you were young, your parents were likely the most important people in your life,” he continued. “Imagine the horror and fear. ... What must that sound like?” He then played the recording, demonstrating exactly what it sounds like.
Rep. Karen Handel (R-NC) presiding in the chair, tried repeatedly to get Lieu to stop, to no avail. “Why are you trying to prevent the American people from listening to what it sounds like in a detention facility?” he asked. “These are babies and kids at a detention facility. Why are you not letting the American people hear what they are saying?”
Handel eventually made the sergeant at arms of the House ask Lieu to stop the recording, but not after five minutes of children’s cries rang through the chamber. Watch, and listen, below.