Seth Magaziner Absolutely Lights Into Trump, GOP Over Arrests And Deportations Of US Citizens

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) spoke about the Trump administration deporting US citizens.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman yells back. The chair recognizes Mr. Maguzina for five minutes of questioning.

00:06Thank you, Chairman.

00:08Donald Trump said he would focus on deporting criminals and people with removal orders,

00:12but that is not what his administration has been doing.

00:16Instead, the Trump administration has been going after innocent, hard-working people

00:20who have committed no crimes, including children, including U.S. citizens,

00:25children, grandparents, veterans, students who express unpopular political opinions,

00:33and, yes, even United States citizens.

00:36The latest data from Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security,

00:40their own data shows that more than 70 percent of those in ICE detention have no criminal convictions.

00:49They are locking people up who have tried immigrating to the United States the legal way,

00:54who presented themselves at ports of entry and asked for asylum.

00:58People like Andrew Hernandez Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela,

01:03who came to the United States seeking asylum.

01:06Listen to this. He did not enter the country illegally.

01:08He presented himself at a port of entry near San Diego, tried to do it the legal way.

01:14And what did the Trump administration do?

01:15They put him on a plane to El Salvador to a prison where he is still today.

01:20He has never been convicted of any crimes.

01:22He did not even enter the United States illegally.

01:24We have been asking the administration,

01:26can you give us a proof of life?

01:28Can you let us know that he's still alive?

01:30And they refused to do so.

01:33They deported a mother from Louisiana,

01:36along with her seven-year-old daughter and four-year-old son,

01:39both of whom are U.S. citizens,

01:41and the four-year-old has stage four cancer.

01:45The mother of these children has said that she did not consent

01:49to having her children deported with her.

01:52Secretary Noem was here,

01:53and she said under oath that she had documentation

01:56proving that the mother had consented.

01:59She said she would provide it.

02:00She still has not.

02:02Representative Swalwell and I followed up with her.

02:06She still has not presented any documentation,

02:09any rationale for why this four-year-old U.S. citizen

02:13with cancer was deported to a country that is not his own.

02:19And so when I hear my colleagues

02:21and when I hear our witnesses saying

02:22that they care about the lives of the children,

02:25I'm sorry, you have no credibility

02:28if you are not prepared to call out the injustice

02:31of deporting a four-year-old with cancer,

02:33a seven-year-old with leukemia.

02:36Where's your sympathy for those children?

02:44No, Donald Trump gets a free pass, always,

02:47no matter what he does from this crowd.

02:49That's how we know that what we're hearing

02:51is political today,

02:53not a real concern for the children

02:55who have been caught up in all of this.

02:56There's more.

02:58This family in Oregon, four children,

03:01all U.S. citizens,

03:02these four children, along with their parents,

03:05who have no criminal record,

03:07were put into detention by ICE for two weeks

03:10in a Border Patrol facility

03:12that is not designed for long-term detention,

03:16a 10-by-10 cell that these five were in.

03:20They were just released after two weeks.

03:21These U.S. citizen children,

03:23where's the concern for them?

03:26We know why this is happening.

03:28It's because on May 21st,

03:31Stephen Miller summoned ICE officials to Washington

03:34and ordered them to make mass arrests,

03:37not to focus on criminals.

03:40He said, go after people at Home Depot and 7-Eleven.

03:44Because again, unlike what President Trump promised

03:47that they were going to go after the worst of the worst,

03:49Stephen Miller, who apparently is calling the shots,

03:51ordered ICE to round up everybody,

03:54regardless of whether they are hardened criminals or not.

03:58Please, someone tell me,

03:59what threat to our country do these children pose

04:02or their parents who have lived here and worked here for years

04:05and committed no crimes in the country?

04:09Is this the worst of the worst?

04:11Of course not.

04:13This is the same Stephen Miller, by the way,

04:15who was the architect of the family separation policy

04:18under the first Trump administration,

04:20during which 4,600 children were removed from their parents,

04:25some as young as 10 months old.

04:27Where's the concern for those 4,600 children?

04:30I haven't heard a word from any of our partisan witnesses

04:33or any of my partisan colleagues on the other side.

04:37You lose your credibility

04:39when you refuse to acknowledge the humanity

04:43of those 4,600 children

04:45who were separated purposefully from their families

04:48by the first Trump administration

04:50or the children who are being unlawfully detained

04:53and deported today.

04:54I'll leave you with this.

04:57Pope Leo, His Holiness,

04:59posted on X about the Trump administration

05:02deporting people to El Salvador.

05:04He said, quote,

05:05Do you not see the suffering?

05:07Is your conscience not disturbed?

05:10How can you stay quiet?

05:12This is not what the American people want.

05:15Let's focus on going after real criminals,

05:18not children, not U.S. citizens,

05:21not people who are just trying to make a living

05:23who pose no threat.

05:24Let's focus on the criminals.

05:25I yield back.

05:27The gentleman yields back.

05:28The chair recognizes Mr. Bukeme for his file.

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