'Most Detainees Aren't Even Criminals At All': Ivey Denounces Trump Admin 'Weaponization Of ICE'

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During remarks on the House floor, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) tore into the Trump Administration's deportation programs and increase in ICE activity.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Speaker, I rise today with deep concern over the weaponization of ICE by the Trump

00:11administration. Just this weekend, I had a chance to see Trump Borders R. Tom Homan

00:17talking about how the administration is conducting the sweeps on the streets and that they're doing

00:23it to prioritize public safety and national security. But the facts tell a different story.

00:28According to CBS, only 8 percent of those detained have been convicted of violent crimes. The

00:35conservative Cato Institute found that only 7 percent of detainees were violent criminals.

00:41In fact, most detainees aren't even criminals at all. Of the people in detention, about half

00:51of them have criminal records. That's 300,000 people who are detained who do not have criminal

00:57records at all. This administration is not actually prioritizing the most dangerous people,

01:03even though President Trump promised on the campaign trail that that's exactly what he

01:08would do. Mr. Homan also said that his administration always follows the law. But last week, a federal

01:15judge ordered ICE to stop conducting roving patrols, stop the sweeping arrests without reasonable

01:20suspicion and stop denying access to lawyers. Mr. Speaker, the findings in this case are shocking.

01:28This is some of the worst examples of racial profiling I've seen, even during my 12 years

01:34as a prosecutor. For example, some people were waiting at bus stops and having coffee, were

01:42then surrounded by ICE agents and unmarked vehicles that sped up in their direction. They leapt

01:48out with masks on and their guns drawn and ran immediately toward these individuals. They

01:54then handcuffed these individuals and forced them into vehicles and drove them away. All

01:59of this was done before they'd even asked them for identification. The men thought they were

02:04being kidnapped. Some of them then had their feet, hands, and wrists shackled, and another

02:10man even had a gun pointed at him. The court who was reviewing these cases questioned what

02:16was it about the bus stop that caused these ICE agents to believe they had reasonable suspicion

02:22to detain these men. Reasonable suspicion means that there is evidence at the time that each

02:29of these men had committed a crime or were in the process of committing the crime. What

02:34was the basis of the ICE agent's reasonable suspicion? The case reviewed it and found that the government

02:43said it was based on their past experiences, quote, have demonstrated that illegal aliens

02:48utilize and seek to work at certain places like getting their car washed or waiting for

02:53the bus. Nothing about these men suggested that they were in the country illegally or about

02:59to commit a crime at the time that they were stopped. They didn't even ask for ID before

03:05they were gun faced and then handcuffed and taken away. The bottom line is that these men

03:10were taken into custody simply because they were Latino. Clearly these tactics are unconstitutional.

03:16The use of race is the basis for grabbing people on the street. The courts have long ago ruled

03:22are across the line and illegal. These tactics threaten some of the most basic important principles

03:28that serve as the backbone for our nation, the rule of law. Like the unlawful deportation

03:34of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the willful defiance of a unanimous Supreme Court decision to bring

03:39it back, the Trump administration is unapologetic in its efforts to target immigrants, constitution

03:45and law be damned.

03:47Now, in addition to being unconstitutional, this wastes a great deal of tax dollars because

03:55they're detaining masses of people in these large sweeps only to have to release them when

04:00it's proof of their legal status is shown. And also horrifies the citizens who have to go

04:06through this experience. We now have Latino citizens who are afraid to leave their house

04:12to go to work or even to go to court. Remember, the so-called Venezuelan violent gang members

04:18deported to the Gulag in El Salvador. As it turned out, according to the Cato Institute,

04:2450 of those men, not only were they not criminals, their paperwork was in order. They were in the

04:29United States legally, and they hadn't committed any kind of crimes in El Salvador or other than

04:34as well as all. Instead of focusing on criminals, they're grabbing people like the 64-year-old

04:40mother who was gardening in New Orleans, the father of three Marines who has been working

04:48in the United States for decades, or yesterday when ICE raided a baseball summer camp. This

04:54is not the best use of our federal law enforcement agents. I'm a former federal and state prosecutor.

05:01I deeply respect the rule of law and understand the responsibility elected officials have to

05:06protect it. We've got to do better than this. Let's focus on getting violent criminals off

05:11the street. There are more than a hundred thousand open warrants in the United States on any given

05:17day. Let's focus on those. The gentleman's time has expired.

05:21Let's move forward in a way that respects the Constitution. With that, I yield back.

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