'That Has To Stop!': Pramila Jayapal Demands End To ICE Raids 'Sweeping Up Innocent People'

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Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) spoke at a rally in Washington, D.C. against ICE raids targeting immigrant workers.

Transcript

00:00Thank you Jaime! Thank you Jaime, thank you SCIU, thank you labor movement for

00:12always standing up for workers, for immigrants, for our democracy. I have one

00:20word for you and I yes I'm here as the ranking member of the immigration

00:23subcommittee but I am also here as a naturalized citizen and a proud

00:27immigrant doing immigrant rights in the streets for 20 years before I have one

00:37word for you today enough enough of these mass ice raids that are sweeping up

00:43innocent people of every legal status tearing apart families and our

00:49communities do you say enough and the arrests of community members and leaders

00:56like the incredible SCIU president David Huerta David is a champion of civil

01:05rights he is somebody who was simply standing up peacefully for justice

01:12someone who is one of the best of our country's labor movement free him

01:18immediately enough of the undermining of due process the blocking of access to

01:29legal counsel for the hundreds of people immigrants who were picked up in LA on

01:34Friday don't forget that due process is something that everybody in this country

01:41gets despite your legal status that's right this is there there are there are plenty of places in the

01:50Constitution where it says citizen the due process clause is not one of them it says

01:57person every person has access to due process and the illegal blocking of members of

02:05Congress who have gone to conduct their authority authority to actually have

02:11oversight over these ICE detention centers they are prisons we have the

02:18authority and the responsibility to conduct oversight and this weekend members of

02:23Congress that represent the LA area we're at the detention center in LA and

02:28then at Atlanta and they were denied access to those facilities

02:35and Donald Trump calling out the National Guard unconstitutionally illegally without

02:43the governor's authorized approval as Jaime said that's something that has not

02:49happened since 1965 and it's hard to imagine that this time the National Guard

02:55were sent out to attack protesters that were exercising their constitutional

03:01obligation now I want to say something to you it is actually in the interest of

03:06all American people to stand up for these rights they know they know that

03:13dividing us is what will make them strong and they know that when we are united

03:20nobody can divide us they want to they want to distract you from their power grab for

03:32authoritarian power on the backs of working people they want to distract you

03:38from the fact that they are trying to strip people of health care and make

03:42Americans poorer and sicker all so they can give a five trillion dollar tax break to the wealthiest

03:48billionaires we say not and all of the violence and the escalation is core to the Trump

03:59administration's authoritarian playbook as we see people exercising their

04:04constitutional rights to peacefully use their voices to speak out against this

04:10injustice they are being met with tear gas and rubber bullets from this

04:15unconstitutional unlawful administration

04:19and look even the LA Police Department said that the protests were peaceful before Trump rolled in

04:29with military tanks on the streets of Los Angeles federal law enforcement from DHS ice HSI and the FBI all to

04:44crack down on peaceful protesters who were standing up for immigrant workers who

04:49are standing up for the economy of this country who are standing up for our

04:53communities for our families and saying don't tear us apart we are going to stand

04:58united against this authoritarian power grab I have been working on immigration reform with my

05:08friend Jaime with SCIU with all these incredible labor unions for decades we all know that the

05:15immigration system is broken and that the American people want a fair humane system that actually allows

05:25people to be able to work allows people to be with their families allows people to have the rights that

05:32they deserve for keeping our country going for doing the work that they are doing every single day and

05:39instead we are villainizing and demonizing them under this president and that has to stop

05:50David Huerta David Huerta said it best he said we all collectively have to object to this madness because

06:01this is not justice this is injustice so today we are here to say free David Huerta

06:12we are here to say free the immigrants that have been arrested

06:19we are here to say end the ice raids

06:24we are here to say stand up for our protected constitutional rights to free speech

06:31that's right that's right to due process to a democracy that works for all of us thank you so

06:38much everybody let's keep this up because the people united will never be divided the people united

06:46will never be defeated

07:03that's right

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