Seth Magaziner Decries Arrests Of Migrants With 'No Criminal Charges Or Explanation' By Trump Admin.

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) spoke about the arrest and detention of legal migrants by the Trump Administration.

Transcript

00:00Chairman Yields, I now recognize Mr. Magaziner for five minutes.

00:07Thank you, Chairman. We need more funding for homeland security and border security. I was

00:13supportive last Congress of the bipartisan plan from the Senate to increase funding for border

00:18security, and I support more funding now. But what I cannot and will not support is the Trump

00:24administration locking up people with no due process, including people who are charged with

00:30no crimes, separating parents from children, sending people to foreign prisons, deporting

00:37children who need cancer treatment. It doesn't have to be this way. Our government can be effective

00:45without being cruel. And Donald Trump's disregard for due process puts the freedoms of all Americans

00:54at risk. Here's what I'm talking about. Andrew Hernandez Romero. And I'd ask my colleagues,

01:02do me the courtesy, put down the phones for just a minute and listen to this one story.

01:07He is a gay makeup artist who worked for a television station in Venezuela. He fled Venezuela because he

01:14was being persecuted by gangs linked to the dictator Maduro for his political beliefs and his sexual

01:21orientation. He made the grueling trip north to our border and presented himself at a port of entry to

01:28ask for asylum. If you remember nothing else about his story, remember this. He did not enter our

01:35country illegally. He did not enter our country at all. He didn't cross the border. He didn't sneak

01:40across. He did the right thing. He presented himself at a port of entry and asked for asylum. He did it

01:47the legal way. And when he was interviewed at the border, officers found that he had a credible asylum

01:54case that was likely to be approved at a full hearing. But he never got a full hearing. Why?

02:01Because instead, the Trump administration shipped him to the torture prison in El Salvador. He was never

02:07accused of a crime, has never been linked to any gang, and never entered the country illegally.

02:14The only rationale that the administration has ever provided for why he was sent is that he has two

02:20tattoos, one that says mom and one that says dad. He is still there in that prison in El Salvador today

02:28and has never received his hearing. I'll give you another. Fabian Schmidt, a German-American green card

02:36holder living legally in New Hampshire with permanent U.S. resident status. He was returning home after

02:44visiting his father in Europe and was taken to a prison in Rhode Island and has been held there for

02:50nearly two months. When he was detained, he was stripped naked, placed in a cold shower, and denied

02:56his medications, leading to his hospitalization. He has not been charged with any crime. We still don't

03:02know why he's in jail. The Department of Homeland Security has provided no justification for his

03:09imprisonment at all. His only record? Simple possession of marijuana and a DUI in 2015 and 2016.

03:18That's it. That's it. He has an eight-year-old daughter whose father has been locked up in prison for the

03:27last two months, and nobody knows why. During the course of this markup, you will hear many stories

03:36like this of children with cancer deported and unable to receive treatment, families separated, and people

03:42thrown in jail with no criminal charges and no explanation. None of this is necessary.

03:49Andrew Romero could be at his asylum hearing, and Fabian Schmidt could be home with his daughter,

03:53and this country would be no less safe. What should scare all of us is that the Trump administration

04:01seems to think that they are above the law and can lock people up and send people to foreign jails

04:07with no charges and no evidence. Look, we need to fund border security. Of course we do. But as a

04:13Congress, we have a responsibility to ensure that the administration uses its enormous power

04:20responsibly. That innocent people are not locked up and tortured. That is our job. If Congress doesn't

04:27hold this administration responsible, who will? And I'll tell my Republican colleagues right now,

04:33look, I'll support more funding for border security if you work with us to include language to make sure

04:40that the administration uses its awesome power responsibly. That we do our duty as a Congress

04:47to prevent executive overreach and ensure that innocent people are not locked up without due

04:53process. So let's withdraw this bill. Let's work together on a better one that combines funding

05:00with accountability. We can do both. And I yield back.

05:06Gentlemen, yields, I now recognize the ranking member.

05:09Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I think you can tell from

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