Press Release: 2/25/2026

In Boycott of State of the Union, Pressley to Uplift Children Detained and Traumatized by ICE as Honorary Guests

 



Pressley Has Led Efforts in Congress to Address Childhood Trauma, Championed Policies to Support Child Health, Education, Safety



Pressley Has Stood in Vigorous Defense of Immigrant Communities in MA 7th and Nationwide, Fighting to Bring Detained Neighbors Home



WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) will be boycotting Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. In a direct rebuttal, Rep. Pressley will spend the day uplifting the stories of children detained and traumatized by ICE and Trump’s terrorizing of immigrant communities.



Rep. Pressley will be uplifting the harrowing experiences of several children in Massachusetts and children imprisoned at the for-profit Dilley Detention Center, while speaking to the harm and trauma Trump’s terror campaign is inflicting on children.




Juan Nicolás,a two-month-old who was dangerously ill and denied medical care while imprisoned at Dilley before he, his parents, and his 16-month-old sister were forcefully and suddenly deported.



Daphne, a two-year-old from the Massachusetts 7th whose father was picked up as “collateral” during an ICE operation in Chelsea and unjustly disappeared from her life from weeks.



Susej, a nine-year-old who has been detained at Dilley for over 60 days and whose pleas for help have travelled the country in her letters, in which she speaks of wanting to return to Venezuela because the United States has only shown her pain.



Liam, Ailany, and Ashley, three-year-old, six-month-old, and fourteen-year-old siblings from the Massachusetts 7th who have been unjustly separated from their father for months, leaving their mother to navigate post-partum alone and struggle to provide for her family and care for her children without her husband.





“The state of our union is traumatizing our children, from Massachusetts to the Dilley Detention Center,” said Rep. Pressley. “No child should face the horrors that Juan, Daphne, Susej, Liam, Ailany, and Ashley are enduring. The heartless Occupant of the White House has no regard for our nation’s children— his terror campaign is wholesale child abuse —and I have no regard for a man who rips parents away from children, deports families, and imprisons our babies. Instead of giving this man an audience, I am shedding light on the stories of our children and making it known that they deserve more. They belong everywhere and they deserve a childhood free from fear.”




Today, Rep. Pressley will highlight the stories of these impacted children throughout the day in several ways:




  • All Day: An installation outside her D.C. office depicting the harmful impact of ICE on children

  • 10:00AM ET: House Floor Speech

  • 12:25PM ET: A conversation with WGBH’s Boston Public Radio

  • 2:30PM ET: An Instagram Live conversation with Brittany Packnett Cunningham

  • 6:15PM ET: A Substack Live conversation with April Ryan

  • 7:00PM ET: Roland Martin’s State of Our Union via live YouTube show

  • 7:40PM ET: State of the People’s State of Our People via live YouTube show

  • 9:45PM ET: MoveOn’s People’s State of the Union at the National Mall and via livestream



For more information on Rep. Pressley’s engagements, press can email Pressley.press@mail.house.gov.



As a leading voice and legislator, Rep. Pressley’s advocacy to protect children from abuse and trauma dates back to her days as a Boston City Councilor. In her first term in Congress, she partnered with the late Chairman Elijah Cummings to hold the first Congressional hearing on childhood trauma on the Committee on Oversight and Reform.



Rep. Pressley leads the STRONG Support for Children Act, which would support communities in addressing childhood trauma through healing-centered, neighborhood-based, gender-responsive, culturally specific, and trauma-informed approaches that acknowledge the impact of systemic racism and inequities over generations. She has called for such trauma-informed and child-centered approaches to every issue, including: surging baby formula to Gaza, addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, addressing sexual harassment targeting girls, committing to end gun violence, and more.



In recent weeks, Rep. Pressley has shone light on the inhumane attacks by ICE on immigrant communities and pushed back against the reckless agency. During Oversight Democrats’ bicameral shadow hearing on the use of violence by ICE, Rep. Pressley highlighted the urgency of the moment by uplifting stories of traumatized community members she met with during her trip to Minnesota with Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and invoking the horrifying detention case of five-year-old Liam Ramos. In the Massachusetts 7th, Rep. Pressley has recognized and supported the many families torn apart and children suffering from the detention of a loved one—including harrowing attacks on Massachusetts families in their daily lives, abductions of dedicated workers at the Allston car wash, visiting Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk during her unlawful detention and pushing to bring her home, and more.



At last year’s State of the Union Address, Rep. Pressley was joined by Claire Bergstresser, an Everett constituent, dedicated public servant, AFGE union member, and wheelchair user who was terminated during Trump’s mass federal layoffs from her service providing fair housing with HUD. In 2024, Rep. Pressley was joined by Priscilla Valentine, Boston teacher, first-generation American, and student debt relief recipient. In 2023, Rep. Pressley was joined by Jaqueline Sanches, a Mattapan resident, early educator, and mother of two. In 2021, Rep. Pressley was joined virtually by Christina Morris, a Hyde Park resident, union carpenter, and mother of four. In 2019, Rep. Pressley was joined by Estefany Pineda, a DACA recipient, as her guest to the State of the Union Address. In 2020, she invited Nneka Hall, a professional doula and healthcare justice advocate, as her guest to the State of the Union. In 2020 in the midst of the impeachment trial, the Congresswoman personally boycotted the speech and delivered the official response to the 2020 State of the Union Address on behalf of the Working Families Party.



As immigrant communities have been under siege by the Trump administration, Rep. Pressley has been a leading voice in pushing back and defending our immigrant neighbors.



This week, Rep. Pressley convened immigrant entrepreneurs and small business owners, community advocates, and municipal leaders to hear of the essential role that immigrant-owned small businesses play in Massachusetts’ economy and communities and how they are suffering under Trump’s attacks.



In January 2026, Rep. Pressley and Senator Markey held a field hearing with members of the Haitian community on the importance of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. Testimony was documented in the Congressional Record.



Rep. Pressley also leads a discharge petition that could compel the House vote on a bill to require the Trump Administration to extend TPS for Haiti for three years. 



In February 2026, during Oversight Democrats’ bicameral shadow hearing on the use of violence by ICE, Rep. Pressley demanded Congress end qualified immunity to ensure federal law enforcement officers are held accountable for breaking the law and murdering civilians. Rep. Pressley called on her colleagues not to settle for bare minimum reforms in funding negotiations for the Department of Homeland Security, instead urging them to fight to rebalance power and restore accountability.



In January 2026, at the invitation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Congresswoman Pressley went to Minneapolis to meet with organizers and community members impacted by ICE’s violent operation in Minnesota, where they have murdered bystanders, terrorized schools and small businesses, and abducted children and parents.



Following the ICE murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, which builds on the lawmakers’ prior work by granting victims the right to sue federal law enforcement officers—not just state and local—for civil rights violations and abolishing the defense of qualified immunity in these suits. The expanded legislation would help deliver accountability for families abused by law enforcement, including ICE agents.



Congresswoman Pressley delivered a floor speech on the need to end qualified immunity for federal law enforcement, including immigration officers. Watch the floor speech here.



In January 2026, Congresswoman Pressley condemned the ICE murder of Renee Good in Minnesota and motioned to subpoena all records and footage related to the shooting, but Republicans obstructed it. Footage of Congresswoman Pressley’s motion to subpoena is here.



In December 2025, Rep. Pressley convened and welcomed home the workers and families impacted by the cruel and unlawful ICE raid at an Allston car wash in November. Rep. Pressley delivered a powerful speech on the House floor condemning the Allston ICE raid and defended the vibrant immigrant communities who are being maliciously stolen from their homes, ripped from their families, and unlawfully detained and deported by the Trump Administration and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).



In June 2025, Congresswoman Pressley convened immigrant justice advocates, local leaders, and impacted families to tell Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Hands off our immigrant neighbors. 



Rep. Pressley has also been an outspoken critic against the unlawful detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts PhD student, Somerville resident, and constituent of the Congresswoman’s who was unlawfully detained for weeks in retaliation for her protected speech. After weeks of advocacy and Congressional oversight, including a visit to detention centers in Louisiana, Rep. Pressley and Senator Ed Markey welcomed Ms. Öztürk to Massachusetts following her arrival from ICE detention in Louisiana.



Rep. Pressley has also spoken out against reports of ICE activity in the MA 7th and other municipalities in Massachusetts.