On Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and other Democratic lawmakers demanded that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem resign from her position in the Trump Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, buenos dias. I'm Celia Catalina Ramirez, and I am the Congresswoman and Commissioner of the Philippines' 3rd Congressional District.
00:11I serve on Homeland Security, where I also serve in the subcommittees on border and the subcommittee on oversight, accountability, and investigations.
00:21And this morning is a morning for accountability.
00:26Today, one of the greatest threats we face is the Musk, the Trump administration, and their loyalists, Chris Lee and Bill O'Reilly.
00:35Today, as we think about where we are as a nation, frankly, we are less safe than we were on January 19th.
00:44And as we know, fascism always demands republic enemies.
00:49See, in order to erode our civil rights, undermine the rule of law, and desensitize us, their acts of dehumanization, authoritarians create a public enemy.
01:02In this moment, they've decided that immigrants will be their scapegoat.
01:07The rise of the scapegoat in the Trump administration has tried to make immigrants the big, major public enemy.
01:15They've tried to convince us that the problem isn't their abuses of power, that the problem isn't the influence of dark money in our politics,
01:24that the problem isn't them and the multi-national corporations and the way that they continue to dehumanize people.
01:32It's immigrants.
01:34And at the end of last week, a number of us went back to the border.
01:39This time, I was in the Tijuana-San Diego border.
01:43I saw children facing immigration processing without lawyers.
01:50I saw 12-year-old children in handcuffs.
01:55A basic right of being able to have representation for children was denied by Noah and Trump.
02:04I saw a woman run to the glass of the cell she seemed detained in, along with other women, begging for help.
02:16I saw people and children put jumping through, wanting to collect, to try to find some stability,
02:26as they attempted to consign them in a country that this precise moment is denying them from that wreckage.
02:35I heard officers admit that people are dying, trying to get through the barbed wire that Noah and Trump have put in to deter people from seeking asylum.
02:50And it is unconscionable to us that in their short time in office,
02:55the Trump administration and Noam have abused the power of the Department of Homeland Security
03:00to pursue a campaign of persecution, of mass incarceration, and deportation.
03:07Day after day after day, Noam disregards the authority of Congress.
03:13She disregards the laws of the land and the constitutional rights of residents,
03:18the courts, due process, and every check and balance that protects us from the fascist authoritarian agenda.
03:27No one has been spared from their abusive authoritarian assault.
03:32Not children with cancer, not organ donors, not student activists, not professors,
03:39not green card holders, not asylees, not even DACA recipients, not even veterans.
03:46The administration, through Noam's actions, has detained a Puerto Rican veteran from surgery.
03:52They've illegally deported Omar Abrego Garcia due to what they call an administrative error.
03:59How many administrative errors after administrative errors will this administration continue to do?
04:07They've sent hairdressers and soccer players to offshore detention centers like SICAR in El Salvador.
04:14They've weaponized immigration enforcement against activists and dissenting voices
04:20like legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, international student Rumeysa Oster,
04:27and labor rights organizer Alfredo Ledo Juarez.
04:32They continue to do this because they think they can get away with it.
04:37And they are sending women to an all-men's prison in El Salvador
04:43thinking that they can get away with it.
04:46These are just some of the cases that actually have made the headlines.
04:50But you and I both know that what they're doing is creating fear and persecution around the country
04:57and, frankly, around the world.
05:00Noam has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in furthering the vilification of immigrants
05:05from a $200 million dollar anti-immigrant ad campaign
05:10to a $45 million dollar illegal contract to pay people in offshore prisons.
05:17More than $300 million dollars to militarize and end parole and due process at our borders.
05:24And as a member of public security, I take my obligation as a member very seriously.
05:30I have written letters after letters after letters making congressional requests
05:36that the secretary come before the oversight body of the agency.
05:41I have publicly demanded the secretary come to the committee.
05:45But those calls continue to go unanswered.
05:49And, friends, I believe in due process.
05:52I believe in the rule of law and in the Constitution.
05:55I believe in our shared humanity and human rights in our community safety.
06:00I believe in our democracy despite of the fact that Secretary Noam, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk
06:07are doing everything to destroy it.
06:09And I believe in checks and balances and certainly in accountability.
06:14I believe honoring those laws, clauses, and values and commitments make us safer
06:19and undermining them make us all less safe.
06:23Because I believe in these things, I cannot let Noam continue to violate our rights,
06:29undermine due process, and misuse our resources.
06:34It is why on this morning I stand here with community demanding that Christy Noam resign
06:41from her position as the Secretary of Homeland Security.
06:46The time is up.
06:48It is time for Secretary Noam to step down.
06:52And it is time for us to have a secretary that respects law, due process.
06:58But that is not Christy Noam.
07:00And it is why as a member of Homeland Security, I publicly demand that she step down.
07:07That she step down now.
07:09With me today are a number of advocates and also other members of Congress
07:14who understand how critical this moment is today.
07:18And it is why it is my honor to present to you one of my colleagues,
07:22a mentor, a champion, and a mover for justice,
07:26Congresswoman Lidia Velazquez.
07:31Thank you, Congresswoman Ramirez, for bringing us together at such a critical moment.
07:38Let us talk about what we have seen in just a few months of this new Trump administration.
07:46Because anyone, anyone who claims to care about the Constitution should be terrified.
07:55Immigrants with no criminal record have been disappeared in Decepto,
08:02Megaprison in El Salvador, no hearings, no notice, just gone.
08:09DHS has blamed so-called administrative errors for the justified deportation without due process.
08:21They have picked up foreign students off the street and disappeared,
08:27they blamed simply for speaking out against U.S. foreign policy.
08:33And this administration has gone so far as to attempt to destroy our asylum system as we know it.
08:42Trump said he was only coming after criminals, but that was a lie.
08:51He is coming after all immigrants, period.
08:57And he even said about sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador.
09:06Think about that. Think about that. It could happen to any one of us.
09:15The Trump administration is using the machinery of government to punish and silence.
09:23Every day they are chipping away at our most basic rights.
09:29It is not just that they don't care about due process.
09:33They seem to take pride in ignoring it.
09:38From day one, DHS has acted like the law doesn't apply to them.
09:44It is time for that to end.
09:48We need accountability from every participant in the mass deportation campaign.
09:55That is why Congresswoman Ramirez and I sent a letter today to Secretary of State Marco Rubio
10:03demanding answers about transfers from the U.S. to El Salvador.
10:08Because we know this will not stop with immigrants.
10:12As Trump himself proved with his glorious idea of sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador the other day.
10:21Secretary Kirstjen Nolte must come before Congress.
10:26She must answer for the chaos and cruelty we are seeing on her watch
10:32and explain why her agency is treating my process like an importation.
10:38The American people deserve answers and we will not stop until we get them.
11:08Today, President Donald Trump, while he was campaigning,
11:15he lied to the American public.
11:23When he said, and many Latinos believed him, especially Latino men,
11:29that they were going to deport the criminals.
11:35Well, you are witnessing that they are not only deporting criminals,
11:40but even so, everyone has the right to a fair judicial process.
11:48I invite you to express yourselves in rejecting the attitudes and decisions of this administration, Mr. Trump.
11:59We are with you and we will continue to insist that the rights are respected
12:06and that everyone is covered under the Constitution. Thank you.
12:30You know, even if you are in touch with the due process,
12:37I don't think people realize, because they are like, oh, it's not me,
12:41but any kind of waddling down, making exceptions of who can be prosecuted
12:46is actually deteriorating your rights.
12:49So it's very important.
12:51You know, the Trump administration's attack on immigrants in our country,
12:54it is incredibly cruel and disgusting.
12:58Every single day, it gets more and more shameful.
13:01They are kidnapping people, sending them to prison camps in El Salvador,
13:05famous for torturing post-labor, family members and neighbors,
13:09many of which call our offices suddenly again, saying we're not sure they're late.
13:14Fearful, living in complete fear that somebody in their family is next.
13:19But people getting kidnapped, abducted, disappearing to a prison
13:23in a country that many of them have absolutely no connection with.
13:27No due process, no charges, no charges, no trial,
13:31just cruelty and targeting and racial profiling.
13:35We see it because they're also stalking Americans who may look like us
13:39and trying to again target them and again try to detain them.
13:44You know, I think of Kilmar Garcia, who's stolen from his wife and family,
13:48including their five-year-old child, who's autistic and nonverbal.
13:52You know, Kilmar's wife has spoken about how distressed her son has been
13:56since their father was taken away, finding his dad's shirts and smelling them
14:00because he misses them.
14:01You know, we're missing the humanity of what our country is doing.
14:04You know, the cruelty is the point with this administration.
14:07You know, the Trump folks is using official government social media accounts.
14:12It's so, I mean, these are things that in 10 years,
14:15people are going to look back and say, you guys let that happen?
14:18Yeah, so my colleagues need to wake up and understand.
14:20People are going to look back and say, you let the White House post these unbelievable,
14:26disgusting, and shameful, and lawless posts like this.
14:31This is cruelty. It's dehumanizing. It's degrading.
14:35The fact that many of the families are watching and seeing
14:37that they see their loved ones among the crowd.
14:40The videos of immigrants in chains and inhumane conditions.
14:44They take sick pleasure in the violent human rights abuses committed against them.
14:49Again, I as an American, I'm ashamed.
14:53I'm ashamed that our country is moving in this direction.
14:56The attacks on immigrants is an attack on all of us.
14:59This is openly fascist behavior rooted in white nationalism.
15:04Trump himself said that he would love to send U.S. citizens to prison camps
15:12and that he's all for it.
15:16They are targeting disobeying students for their First Amendment speech
15:21for protesting genocide like Mahmoud, like Basmia, like Baghdad.
15:25All of these people shredding our constitutional right to free speech in this process.
15:30They are targeting detaining labor leaders like United Farm Workers organizer Alfredo Juarez.
15:35They are sending immigrants to detention facilities in Guatemala.
15:38A global symbol of torture, racism, and dehumanization.
15:43They are kidnapping, using chains, forced labor,
15:46a reminder of the worst chapters of our history.
15:49We cannot allow this to continue.
15:51Just again, in my own district, a resident, an American lawyer,
15:55getting detained at the airport.
15:57His cell phone confiscated.
15:59Detained for over an hour.
16:02All because he represents students, encampment students.
16:07Again, the targeting is real and it's happening.
16:10Yes, they might be starting with things that may divide our country around immigration,
16:14maybe the issue around what's happening in Gaza.
16:17But I trust me, it will be the other issues like unionization.
16:20It will be other issues like access to abortion care.
16:23This is an attack on all of us.
16:26They will start here and they will lead to other issues that this disagrees with.
16:30So again, we have to understand, a future with no border walls,
16:33no Cuetamano, no family separation, no deportation,
16:36and with human rights, safety, and human dignity for all people.
16:39No matter where they were born, who you are, or the color of your skin.
16:43It is important, again, to restore this.
16:46I remind folks that they always start with people like us.
16:51They end up, again, targeting community folks that never, ever thought
16:56they would be sent, again, to places like this.
17:00But when they start with just some of us and we are silent,
17:04it leads them to target all of us.
17:07And again, this is the time to speak up.
17:09I really cannot commend Congresswoman Ramirez enough,
17:13and of course, my sister, Lydia Velasco, has been speaking up.
17:17This is a moment, again, no matter our backgrounds,
17:20no matter the makeup of our communities or districts,
17:22this is a time to come together and say,
17:24look, not on our watch will we allow this to happen.
17:27And again, any deterioration of due process is a deterioration to all of us.
17:31So again, thank you so much, and again, your leadership.
17:38This work in Congress, we often say,
17:41it's about legislating using oversight authority,
17:44it is about the courts and the litigation process,
17:47and it is about the community and the mobilizing work that needs to be done.
17:51Well, today with us, we have organizations that have been holding the line,
17:55that have been protecting due process,
17:58that continue to talk about the importance of preserving our First Amendment rights.
18:03Today with us, we have Jesse Frensbaugh,
18:06the Senior Policy Analyst with the National Immigration Justice.
18:09Let's give him a warm welcome. Thank you, Jesse.
18:15Thank you so much, Congresswoman Ramirez.
18:18It's such an honor to be here.
18:20It would be great if Congresswoman Ramirez would leave,
18:24and Lydia Velasco for standing up.
18:27Today, I'm really honored to be here.
18:29I'm a Senior Policy Analyst with the National Immigration Justice Center.
18:32We've been for four decades.
18:34It's worked to ensure human rights protections,
18:37and access to justice for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
18:41Headquartered in Chicago, the National Immigration Justice Center
18:46provides legal services through its staff.
18:49We promote our network to over 11,000 people a year.
18:52The National Immigration Justice Center has really witnessed firsthand
18:57the long-lasting, dramatic impact of the harsh enforcement machine,
19:02which has grown astronomically over the years,
19:05costing billions of taxpayer dollars and destroying lives.
19:10The U.S. operates the largest immigration detention machine in the world.
19:15It spends more public funds on immigration enforcement than ever before.
19:20This is a relatively new phenomenon,
19:22and it stems from this dramatic shift in resources
19:26towards racialized policing, surveillance of immigrant communities,
19:29and intensified border militarization.
19:32ICE's overall budget has grown from $3.4 billion in 2004
19:37to nearly $10 billion annually today.
19:40And so the U.S. budget has grown at that same time
19:43from around $5 billion to $16 billion.
19:46And so the increased funding for the enforcement
19:50and this build-up of this infrastructure
19:52for mass detention and sweeping targeted arrests
19:55and large-scale removals is what we are facing today.
19:59And oversight is, of course, essential.
20:02Our government officials must be held accountable
20:05for the misuse of federal funds and the evisceration of due process
20:09and other constitutional protections that we're seeing today.
20:12Our courts and Congress are on the front lines of the defense
20:16who are basically mandating to ensure that public funds
20:19are going towards communities in need,
20:21not towards ICE raids and more ICE jails.
20:24NIJC is fighting for immigrant communities,
20:27including those who are swept up,
20:29and warned this arrest by ICE in Chicago
20:33in the first week of the Trump administration,
20:35and will continue to fight this administration's harmful tosses.
20:40NIJC has uncovered ICE arrests and assaults
20:44targeting U.S. citizens and productions,
20:46abusing workers, targeting domestic violence survivors,
20:50and will continue to fight these cruel tactics in Congress and in the streets.
20:56And we're so grateful for members of Congress who are speaking out
21:00and those in legislative efforts
21:02to advance the Trump White House agenda,
21:05including the funding for legislation
21:10that risks access to basic services for kids,
21:14to provide tax loopholes for Trump's billionaire cabinet
21:19and going to class.
21:20NIJC is incredibly grateful for the champions of Congress
21:23demanding accountability and oversight for agencies
21:26responsible for such grave abuses,
21:29and those who keep showing up to fight for justice,
21:32harm, and injustice.
21:34And now, next would be Larry Pickenberry,
21:38the government relations director with Trump Without War.
21:44Thank you so much, and thank you, Congresswoman.
21:47As we gather today,
21:49I'm Larry Pickenberry,
21:51with Trump Without War,
21:52a president of a police organization
21:54that works in the public sector across the United States.
21:57And when the vast majority of people in the United States
22:00think about what keeps us safe,
22:02we think about a roof over our heads.
22:04Access to health care,
22:06good food,
22:07clean water,
22:08and communities where we can grow safe.
22:12...are a promise.
22:14This administration is offering us real security.
22:17Instead, the only things this administration has to offer,
22:21others has been trumped by DHS Secretary Nowak,
22:24is masks in government places
22:26protecting people in broad daylight,
22:28low and deep cuts to public health infrastructure,
22:31a farcical and wasteful deployment of our military to our borders,
22:35and unlawfully revoking a wartime code from 1798
22:40to send dozens and dozens of immigrants with no criminal record
22:43to a military prison abroad.
22:45And all DHS Secretary Nowak has time for, it seems,
22:49is to film paranoid and disturbing propaganda videos
22:53for this paranoid and disturbed White House.
22:56We can all find a better use for her time.
23:00Let's get her down here
23:02where members of Congress are representing
23:04the exact constituency she's terrorizing,
23:07and have her explain to the public
23:09and not just her narrow echo chamber
23:11why Dilma Rousseff,
23:14Andres Romero,
23:15Ahmed Khalil,
23:16and the growing list of human beings
23:19are languishing in prisons
23:21instead of freely living their lives with friends and loved ones.
23:25We have questions,
23:27and her only answers can possibly be
23:30to free them all,
23:31and to stop these blatant, irreprehensible abuses.
23:39Sitari Gandahar,
23:42the Advocacy Director of the Detention Watch Network.
23:50We cannot overstate how dire this moment is.
23:54Trump's expansion of the detention and deportation system
23:58is unprecedented,
24:00and his use of the system to target those
24:02who criticize the policies of this government
24:05is an inflection point in the rising tide of authoritarianism.
24:09The Trump administration is dredging up
24:11some of the darkest moments in our history
24:14to consolidate power, suppress dissent,
24:17and enact a cool agenda.
24:19It cannot be ignored that immigration detention
24:23is a key component of Trump's plans
24:25to target immigrant communities
24:27and to suppress political opposition.
24:30For decades,
24:31directly impacted people,
24:33government oversight agencies,
24:35media outlets,
24:36and advocates have documented
24:38the conditions, mistreatment, and abuse
24:41at the immigration detention centers across the country.
24:45We have been sounding the alarm for years
24:48that immigration detention is wholly unnecessary,
24:51rife with systemic abuse,
24:53and completely arbitrary.
24:55This administration has further weaponized the system
24:59to target not just immigrant communities and activists,
25:03but any political opposition
25:05to silence people and to spread fear in our communities.
25:09If fully realized,
25:11Trump's multi-layered detention expansion plan
25:15will triple the system that has been proven
25:17again and again
25:19to be inherently inhumane and even deadly.
25:22Over the last weeks,
25:24we are increasingly hearing distressing reports
25:27about how conditions continue to deteriorate.
25:30And there have been at least three deaths
25:32in ICE custody since the United States took over.
25:36On top of expanding the immigration detention system
25:39to that degree,
25:40Trump has shockingly partnered
25:42with the government of El Salvador
25:44to indefinitely imprison people
25:46unjustly deported from the U.S.
25:48in one of El Salvador's most notorious
25:50and abusive mechanisms.
25:52The administration is indiscriminately
25:55deporting people without even a semblance of due process,
25:58punishing and terrorizing communities
26:01for the sake of horrific photo ops,
26:03and as a propaganda tool.
26:05But let's be clear.
26:07These are the actions of an authoritarian regime
26:11attempting to maintain power by dividing it,
26:14vilifying and attacking some groups
26:17while pandering to others.
26:19In the end,
26:20the only winners will be the Trump administration
26:23and his billionaire al-Barclay-type regime.
26:25We won't accept this outcome
26:27and we cannot afford
26:29for our elected leaders to remain silent.
26:31That's why I am so grateful
26:33to the Congresswoman today.
26:35But we call on all our elected leaders.
26:38They can't be immobile
26:40or worse complicit in this.
26:42People's lives are in jeopardy
26:44and Congress has choices too.
26:46Instead of continuing to bankroll
26:49Trump's cruelty
26:51and giving him the power to act with impunity,
26:54Congress must reject funding
26:56for detention and deportation
26:58and instead invest in critical programs
27:00that support everyone's well-being
27:02and respond to the real needs
27:04of the American public
27:06while vigorously defending
27:08the rights of those who are politically targeted
27:10and cleaning immigrants
27:12who are of value and vital members of our community.
27:18I am on the pleasure of introducing
27:20my colleague, Maureen Shaw,
27:22Director of Health Affairs
27:24Maureen.
27:30Good afternoon everyone.
27:32I'm Maureen Shaw, Director of Health Affairs
27:34for Immigration and Immigration.
27:36In the last month,
27:38the Trump administration has sent scores of men
27:40to a prison in El Salvador
27:42known for nightmarish conditions.
27:46It's one of the most brutal prisons in the world.
27:48It's said that
27:50the only way to exit is through a clock.
27:52It's said that those who enter
27:54will never see the sun again.
28:00We have seen now,
28:02because of the recording of 60 Minutes
28:04and the photos from the journals
28:06we've entered, we've seen the images
28:08of this prison.
28:10There are images of despair
28:14and there are images of indifference
28:16and images of cruelty
28:18and images even of glee
28:20on the part of this
28:22administration and its supporters
28:24who delight in the suffering
28:26of human beings they do not know.
28:28This is a catastrophic
28:30moral horror.
28:32To send people, to spend our taxpayer
28:34dollars, to send people
28:36to a nightmare and to
28:38close the door and to turn our backs
28:40and say, it may have been
28:42an administrative error but there's
28:44nothing that we can do.
28:46Instead of denying
28:48what is happening, our government
28:50is celebrating.
28:52So let's stop and say the name
28:54of the prisoner
28:56that we want to use as a
28:58symbol today, and that's Romero.
29:02He is a
29:04gay makeup artist.
29:08He loves his parents.
29:10He has tattoos
29:12on his body.
29:14And according to
29:1660 Minutes,
29:18when he was there, he cried out
29:20for his parents. He prayed. He shouted
29:22for his mother.
29:24And yet our government turns our
29:26back on him.
29:28I'm here on behalf
29:30of the ACLU. Last
29:32night, the Supreme Court vacated
29:34the TRO, the order
29:36in our case filed with Democracy Forward.
29:38But
29:40it underlined that people
29:42sent to El Salvador
29:44under the Alien Enemies Act
29:46must be given notice. They must
29:48be given judicial review.
29:50That's an important victory.
29:52We are filing
29:54habeas suits as of last night and this morning
29:56and we will keep fighting.
29:58We will keep fighting because
30:00this moment of horror is one that
30:02cannot go unanswered. It must
30:04be checked. We applaud the
30:06leadership of Congresswoman Ramirez
30:08and of her colleagues
30:10who are calling out
30:12with disgust, with righteous disgust
30:14what is happening in this moment.
30:16And we will continue to fight alongside
30:18many others around the country.
30:20Thank you so much.
30:22And I'm going to introduce
30:24now Yulia Rizvi, the Senior
30:26Policy Analyst at the Center for Victims
30:28of Torture.