MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Sylvia R. Garcia

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Garcia focuses strongly on her Texas district, most prominently in her repeated calls for an independent investigation and release of all evidence after an ICE shooting there, which she frames as an abuse of government power and links to a wider pattern of ICE custody deaths. On financial legislation she follows her party’s line, opposing a banking bill as a win for “Wall Street” at the expense of community banks and offering a specific motion to recommit with a targeted amendment on megabanks. She argues mostly with concrete detail — witnesses, dates, the specifics of her amendment — and directs sharp language at agencies rather than at individual opponents, though her strongest claims about the shooting rest mainly on the accounts of people in the van rather than on independently released evidence.Written by AI from their statements. Updated .

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Statements 4

House of Representatives ·

Liberty and Justice for All

“An ICE agent shot and killed an unarmed man in my district who was not the target of their investigation. DHS is lying about what happened. We need an independent investigation, the release of all evidence, and accountability for ICE.”
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Official Congressional Record

Thank you to the gentlewoman from California for the time. Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak about a killing in my district. On July 7, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an unarmed man with no criminal record, who was not even the target of their investigation. He was headed to a construction job when ICE aggressively pursued his van in an unmarked vehicle. No sirens, no body cameras, no dash cameras, just two unmarked cars following him. Then, an ICE agent fired through the open passenger’s side window where Mr. Lorenzo’s brother was sitting and killed him. Afterward came the same disgraceful playbook we saw after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. They claim Lorenzo, who was the driver, had weaponized his vehicle and that an agent had acted in self-defense. I spoke directly with two of the men inside that van. They told me ICE never identified themselves, never gave commands, and no agent was ever in front of the van. Then, in an added layer of cruelty, DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, released Mr. Salgado’s name publicly before notifying his family. I was at the hospital when his son had to learn, through Facebook, that his father was dead. It was sickening. It was disheartening. It was despicable. Days later, DHS tried to smear Lorenzo even further by suggesting that drugs had been found in the van. It was not drugs. It was a homemade electrolyte mix workers use to survive the Texas heat. This is an outrageous abuse of government power. ICE pursued the wrong van and killed an unarmed man who wasn’t their target and had no criminal record, and now we are expected to trust DHS to investigate itself. That is laughable. Absolutely not. No way. We need a real, independent investigation. We need all evidence released, and we need real accountability. We also need the truth about what happened to Mr. Salgado. His family deserves the truth. The public deserves accountability. We need justice for Mr. Salgado, and we need justice for all those killed at the hands of ICE or those in the custody of ICE. We demand accountability, and as the gentlewoman has said, we need real justice for all.

House of Representatives ·

Local Access to Courts Act

“I was not able to vote today. If I had been there, I would have voted yes on the bill to protect prison staff from sexual harassment and assault. I also would have voted yes on the bill about local access to courts.”
Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote during the series today. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 284, passage of S. 307--Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act and YEA on Roll Call No. 285, passage of S. 32--LACA.

House of Representatives ·

Main Street Capital Access Act

“I want to send this bill back to committee. We need to make sure it helps local community banks instead of big Wall Street banks.”
Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for the motion to recommit. Let’s send this back to Committee so that we can make sure that it truly works for our community banks and that it does not give Wall Street another big win.

“I oppose this bill. It removes rules on banks, weakens protections against discrimination, and hurts consumer watchdogs instead of helping regular people. I want to send this bill back to committee. If allowed, I would change it so these rule rollbacks do not help giant banks.”
Official Congressional Record

Mr. Speaker, I rise against H.R. 6955. Instead of the Main Street Act, this bill, Mr. Speaker, should be called the Wall Street wins Main Street loses act. It does not help end the affordability crisis, feed hardworking Americans, or keep a roof over their heads. Instead, this bill sneaks in deregulatory measures, further weakens the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and weakens community reinvestment and anti- discrimination safeguards. For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules had permitted it, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. My amendment would limit the provisions of this bill from applying to any globally systemically important bank holding companies. Simply put, it ensures that the bill’s deregulatory provisions do not apply to megabanks. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment into the Record immediately prior to the motion to recommit.