'This Is State-Sanctioned Trauma': Trump Immigration Actions Blasted By Troy Carter

Forbes Breaking News

At Tuesday's Homeland Security Committee hearing on the GOP budget reconciliation bill's border security provisions, Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA) slammed the actions taken by the Trump Administration.

Transcript

00:00He yields. I now recognize Mr. Carter for five minutes.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let's be very clear about what's happening here today.

00:11Despite the name of this committee and despite the claims from across the aisle,

00:16today's markup is not about securing our border. It's about cutting taxes for the wealthy

00:25and gutting programs like Medicaid and SNAP, plain and simple.

00:30In my district in South Louisiana, nearly 300,000 people are on Medicaid are now at risk of losing

00:38their health care under Republican budget plans. This figure includes nearly 130,000 children

00:46under the age of 19 and 33,000 seniors over the age of 65 in my district alone in Louisiana.

00:57At a time when American families are struggling with rising costs and access to health care,

01:04my Republican colleagues have decided to prioritize giveaways to billionaires

01:07and special interests over the needs of everyday people.

01:13And let's talk about how we got here. Congressional Republicans have utterly failed in their most

01:19basic oversight duties. They're focusing through a massive bill with a single appearance from

01:28Secretary Noem without one hearing, without one word of testimony on DHS's actual budget needs and priorities.

01:37That is legislative malpractice.

01:40Worse yet, this bill will supercharge the administration's extreme mass deportation agenda.

01:48We're seeing dangerous rise and forced disappearances of immigrants without due process,

01:55many of whom have done nothing more than exercise their First Amendment right and have not been convicted of any crime

02:04by any of our justice systems. Speaking out in this country should never be a deportable offense,

02:12even if we don't like what we hear. We're not obligated to agree with or like what we hear

02:20to be protected by free speech.

02:24It's un-American and it's unconstitutional. Just last week, I had the opportunity to visit several

02:32individuals detained by ICE in two facilities in Louisiana. People's only crime was daring to speak

02:38out against what they felt were injustices. I met with Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident

02:46and Colombian grad student detained after peaceful pro-Palestinian advocacy.

02:52Someone who has said publicly that he is against terrorism, against Hamas, merely concerned about

03:01his homeland and the devastation happening in Gaza. As he sat in jail, the government denied his request

03:08to attend his son's recent birth. His story is heartbreaking, but now no longer unique. Mahmoud

03:19exercises First Amendment rights to criticize the government. For that, he now sits behind bars

03:26facing deportation. Mahmoud's case is one of many. Across the country, individuals are being detained

03:31and deported, not for violating immigration laws, but for raising their voices and for attending protests,

03:38for posting social media, for seeking a better life. This is not hypothetical. Advocacy organizations,

03:46legal experts, and watchdog groups have all documented an alarming pattern of retaliation against immigrants

03:54and visa holders who dare to speak out. When government uses immigration enforcement as a weapon

04:03to silence dissident, it violates the most basic principles of our democracy. The First Amendment does not have an

04:13asterisk next to it. It does not say freedom of speech just for citizens. It protects everyone on our soil,

04:21no matter their immigration status. When we allow political expression to become deportable offenses,

04:29we not only betray the constitutional values, we send a chilling message to all communities that their rights

04:36are conditional and precarious. The United States should be a beacon for freedom,

04:43not a cautionary tale. Mahmoud Khalil and so many others like him deserve better from us.

04:52And now the cruelty of this administration deportation agenda has reached a horrifying new low.

04:56quote, deporting American citizen children. Recently in my hometown, the district of New Orleans,

05:04U.S. born citizens, children, removed from this country, ripped from their communities, their schools,

05:12and in one heartbreaking case from across, access to life, saving medical care. One of those children,

05:19a four-year-old battling with a rare form of cancer, instead of receiving the care and stability

05:27they need, this child and their family were targeted for deportation, inherently put on a plane and sent to

05:34Honduras. This is not border security. This is state-sanctioned trauma, and it's unconstitutional. The American

05:41people are watching, and as a recent poll shows, they do not support ripping families apart. They do not support

05:49criminalizing speech. They believe in the rule of law and due process. This bill is not about safety.

05:56It's about security. It's about power. It's about politics. In the sense, in the expense of our most

06:06fundamental values, I urge you to dig deep into your hearts. Do the right thing. Don't follow the

06:12political talking points. Do what's right for the American people. I yield back.

06:16The gentleman yields. I'd like to state that as I have been as fair as possible on the

06:26policy, letting people go past the five minutes.

Category

Transcript

Recommended