U.S. Rep. Karen Handel on Friday shut down a colleague on the House floor as he played an audio recording of immigrant children being held at a detention camp near the Mexican border.
(You can view the full video from the House floor at the bottom of this post).
At the end of a long week of national debate over President Donald Trump’s detention policies, California Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu began to play the recording, made by the news organization Pro Publica.
Lieu was denouncing a “zero tolerance” policy that separated children from their parents after illegal border crossings. Trump later signed an executive order allowing families to remain together in detention camps.
“If the Statue of Liberty could cry, she’d be crying today,” Lieu said in beginning his remarks, which frequently referenced the more than 2,300 children who’ve “been ripped away” from their parents in recent weeks.
Handel, the Roswell Republican whose Georgia 6th District includes East Cobb, was serving as Speaker Pro Tem. Shortly after the recording began, she ruled that Lieu had committed a “breach of quorum” for using an electronic device in the House chambers.
She said that violated Rule 17 of the House, but he continued.
“There is not a rule that says I cannot play sounds from the detention facility,” Lieu said, as the recording continued, and crying children could be heard.
Handel ordered him to stop several times, demanding that “the gentleman will suspend!” and pounding a gavel.
The recording continued for a few more moments, then Handel said that “the sergeant at arms will enforce the rules of decorum.”
Before that happened, Lieu yielded back his time, using a little more than five minutes of the 60 minutes allotted to him.
The House was to have voted on immigration legislation Friday but that has been delayed to next week. Trump has urged Congress to wait until after the November elections.
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