'What Is Your Plan To Do That?': Ashley Moody Presses Nom On Realizing Trump's Deportation Policies

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) spoke about the Trump administration's immigration policies.

Transcript

00:00Senator Moreno, I mean Senator Moody. Well we are both freshmen and our names

00:06start with them, so honest mistake. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much. Thank you for

00:12all of, to all of our nominees for stepping up to take this on. I echo the

00:17comments. I've never seen an administration attract so much talent

00:20from outside the public sector to be willing to give up time with their

00:25families, pecuniary benefits, all of the things that come along with being in a

00:30private industry to come and work for the government. It has been inspirational to

00:35me as someone who has dedicated a lot of my life and indeed left a private

00:38practice to begin a life of public service. And I think all of the families

00:42that supported them in doing that, I know you have a lot of your family here with

00:46you today. In fact, I will tell you I sat down with two of my top folks, one of

00:50which is up for nomination today, Jimmy Percival, when they were considering

00:54coming up here to serve in this administration. And what that would mean,

00:58a move, leaving significant others, time away, that really important time that you

01:04might not get back with family. And I said to them, when this country was founded,

01:08many people gave up a lot for the prospect of living as a free people in a

01:13civilized society. They were away from their families, many gave up their lives. We

01:18can give up time to come and serve this administration and set this country on

01:22the right course so that we can continue the prosperity and success of the United

01:26States of America. And because two of my top people decided to do that, I've been

01:30so proud of them. So congratulations. I am excited to introduce, as part of my

01:36remarks, Jimmy Percival, who I can think of no better candidate to be the General

01:41Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. And let me explain why. And by the

01:45way, I forgot to say, when making that decision to come up and serve, Jimmy has six kids at home, a wife, a

01:51wife, Emily, who I believe might be a saint, and is here today with all six kids

01:56supporting him. So thank you so much. When I took on the role as AG, we fought the last

02:03administration tooth and nail as they abandoned the law and opened up our

02:08southern border and let in a historic amount of unvetted people into this

02:14country. The estimates are anywhere from 11 million to 20 million. If you take the

02:18most conservative number, 11 million, that's more than the population of 42

02:22states. When we first saw this administration stop detaining people that

02:28were committing crimes, serious felony crimes, and deporting them and rather

02:32releasing them back into the communities, we were the first to file suit on that.

02:36When we saw that administration start paroling people into the interior in

02:41violation of law, we were one of the first to sue on that. When we saw the

02:45administration start creating programs rooted nowhere in law by Congress, we

02:53sued on that. When we saw the federal prisons stop deporting people that were

02:58arrested internationally and brought here merely to because they were drug

03:02traffickers. No connection to the United States of America brought here only

03:07because they were drug traffickers released from prison and put in our

03:11communities in the middle of an opioid epidemic. When we saw these insane

03:15policies completely in violation of the law, the tip of the spear in that fight

03:20when we took the Biden administration to court and won, time after time was Jimmy

03:26Percival and our team. When we uncovered the plan to when the border was overrun

03:33just step back and let everyone come in, when we uncovered that secret memo, Jimmy

03:39Percival got that done. And as we course correct and try and save this nation and

03:47our communities and make sure that they are safe again, I can think of no better

03:51person than the person that fought that fight against the lawless actions of the

03:54last administration to come in and undo the damage because we're going to have

04:01to use laws that we haven't used before because we have never faced a president

04:05that opened up our borders and let everyone in. And I can think of no better

04:10person to guide a team in the fight in courts and get that done than Jimmy

04:13Percival. In fact, when the senator of Michigan said and asked a question, will

04:18you be able to make sure this is make our government more effective and not tear it

04:23apart? You can imagine my response after watching our security and our borders and

04:32our immigration system torn apart over the last four years. The question is, can you

04:39make sure we rebuild it? I'm so proud of this president who has, in just three

04:46months, brought down the numbers coming over our border unvetted and secured the

04:51border. But now we have to make sure we're getting those that are here that

04:55will do damage to our citizens and our communities and the security of this

04:58nation as we catch people trying to import dangerous substances. As we catch

05:03people here on visas stealing information, taking pictures of our military bases. We

05:10need people to get people out that are going to do the damage and we've got to do

05:13it quickly and we've got to do it effectively. And Jimmy Percival, what is your

05:16plan to do that? Senator Moody, I think I know when to quit when I'm ahead.

05:21But but obviously everything you said is very important. I know it's very

05:26important to the president and the secretary and if confirmed I will work

05:29harder than anyone in this administration to make that happen. And do I have your

05:33commitment to supporting any action and legislation that I've just filed to

05:38approve expedited removal for anyone associated with a gang or criminal

05:43activity? Senator, I'll work with you on that. I think those are good ideas. Thank you.

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