Mark DeSaulnier Demands Due Process For People Arrested And Facing Deportation Under Trump Admin.

During a town hall on Wednesday, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) was asked about arrests and deportations under the Trump Administration.

Transcript

00:00Next question is from Arlie. As a therapist, my patients are fearful of reports of ICE breaking

00:05the law and forcefully dragging people out of their vehicles. How do we respond to these reports

00:10and what can we do? I love it. I'm in a town hall in the Bay Area and I get a question from a

00:17therapist. I was talking to a colleague some years ago from the South. It was a friend,

00:24Republican. I just happened to slip. You know, my therapist told me this and he shook his head. He

00:27said, only a member of California would admit they're using a therapist. And I said, that's

00:31the problem. You're the ones who need them. He thought it was funny. Well, what I would say is

00:38that's why we have these fairs, is there are non-profits, there are faith communities,

00:44and there are people all through the community who want to help. But this is one of the damage

00:50that this kind of policy, what we say is important, particularly people in public office, and

00:56particularly if you're the President of the United States. You've got to be thoughtful

01:01about what you say. And sometimes people think we're too controlled and we can be. You've got

01:05to be authentic and about yourself. But you've got to think about the consequences for people,

01:11good and bad. And I think these fair things, and particularly to this community, but to everybody,

01:17we talk about this in the office. We went from before January 20th, we got a thousand emails

01:23a week. We now get over 5,000 emails a week. This is for 15 people between our three offices

01:29in D.C. and here. There's a lot of stress in the world right now. So there's even more stress

01:35for the community that you just brought up. So we've got to be supportive. And we've got

01:40to protect them. And we've got to allow them to have due process, too. If people don't believe

01:45in the institutions, if you don't believe in the police, if you don't believe in the courts,

01:49if you don't believe in the Congress, then we don't have a democracy. You question us. That's

01:54part of America's history. There's a book by Gary Wills called A Necessary Evil. And he

02:00talks about how this country has always questioned electives and institutions because of how we

02:05were founded. That the people who came here had seen institutions not work in England, including

02:12faith communities. When towns were supposed to be Catholic with one monarch, and then they were

02:17supposed to be Anglican with another one. So people had lost their faith in institutions.

02:22So it's part of our job to question institutions, and particularly public ones, and the people

02:26who hold office in it from city council. Not you. But on the other hand, we have to have

02:34faith that people are being truthful and honest. And if people, particularly in a position like

02:41President of the United States, isn't doing that, it creates this ripple effect that affects

02:45us all. It affects 7.4 billion people who are flying around on this little planet. And particularly

02:51the 330 million people who live in this country, to varying degrees. And if you're a child, and

02:56you're one of that group that's being targeted all the time, you're more impacted. And that

03:00impact doesn't go away, as the therapist knows. It stays with you for the rest of your life.