{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://tomgarrett.house.gov/media/press-releases/us-withdrawal-spells-doom-minority-communities-middle-east", "U.S. Withdrawal Spells Doom for Minority Communities in the Middle East", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Thomas Garrett", "G000580", "tomgarrett.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Bipartisan Letter to President Trump Regarding Troop Withdrawal From Syria\nWASHINGTON, D.C. Today, Representative Tom Garrett (VA05) is expected to deliver a letter to President Trump urging a reversal of this week's announcement to withdraw American troops from Syria.\nJoining him are over a dozen bipartisan cosponsors who share the same concern over this decision with more members still signing on late into the afternoon.\nIn this letter, these collective members state:\nRemoving troops from Syria at this time poses a threat to the national security of the United States. Your administration has made great and effective strides in the fight to combat ISIS and to counter terrorism around the world. The nearly 2,000 servicemen and women stationed in Syria play a pivotal role in rooting out the remaining ISIS cells in the Northeast region of the country. U.S. troops must remain in country until all immenent threats haveabated.\nDuring Thanksgiving recess, Garrett traveled to Northeastern Syria and Iraq and met with Syrian Democratic Forces including Kurds, Arabs, and Christians on the ground. While there, he obtained firsthand knowledge of the dire necessity of continued cooperation between the United States and its allies in the region.\nOver the last fifteen years, the Christian population of Iraq and Syria has been slashed by ethnic cleansing and genocide plummeting from three million to under five hundred thousand in that time frame alone. In referencing this number, Garrett added, If the U.S. withdraws now, there is arguably no future for Christians in the region.\nLast week, Rep. Garrett delivered aFloor speechoutlining his visit and the evolving situation with Turkey's aggressive expansion into Kurdish controlled regions of Syria.\nFull text of the letter may be seen above.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://tomgarrett.house.gov/media/press-releases/us-withdrawal-spells-doom-minority-communities-middle-east"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.847639050334692, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}