During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) called on Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before congress about DHS' arrests and deportations of migrants without due process.
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00:00Recognize Ms. Ramirez for five minutes on the amendment.
00:04Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Ranking Member.
00:07A few weeks ago, right from this dais, I talked about the hypocrisy of these Republican policies.
00:14We're talking about gutting services that working people rely on while writing blank checks for ultra-wealthy bosses.
00:21Well, here we are again. We're back from recess, and Republicans are looking to cut $1.5 trillion in funding for our communities.
00:31But today, we're considering also a $69 billion infusion into an agency that is violating our rights,
00:39undermining due process, and blaming administrative errors for their criminal behavior.
00:44And this gift to Trump and Noem comes without oversight, which Republicans on this committee have proven either unwilling or incapable of.
00:52Case in point, my request to conduct an oversight visit in El Salvador was publicly denied in the press,
00:59despite evidence that Noem spent $6 million of taxpayer dollars to disappear immigrants to a foreign prison without due process.
01:07The committee is considering this massive infusion of capital into the department without holding a single hearing with Secretary Noem,
01:15a request that I have made and others several times to this body, and I'm making again today.
01:21Secretary Noem has to come before this body and answer questions about the department's unconstitutional, illegal, and inhumane activities.
01:30Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter requesting Noem come before the committee to testify.
01:39In case—I can keep going. I can do it at the end if you'd like.
01:43We can do it now. So ordered.
01:46In case there's any question about what those unconstitutional, illegal, and inhumane activities are,
01:51let's revisit some of them for the record.
01:53Republicans are seeking to fund the wasteful spending of this administration after Trump and Noem already wasted $300 million in six weeks to militarize the border.
02:05The administration says they're committed to legal immigration while they are cruelly canceling the appointments of thousands of immigrants
02:14who legally sought asylum in our country.
02:17Trump and Noem have even denied children, two-year-old children, their basic right to face immigration proceedings with a lawyer,
02:28including children going through cancer treatment.
02:31Since January, Trump and Noem have used ICE to terrorize our communities,
02:36providing Latinos and arresting U.S. citizens, like the man who was detained in Chicago after buying a slice of pizza,
02:43despite the fact the guy was carrying his ID and his Social Security card.
02:47And the Puerto Rican veteran in New Jersey.
02:50Folks, these are the same people who launched a $200 million anti-immigrant ad propaganda campaign with your constituent taxpayer dollars.
03:04And then, last month, in violation of court orders,
03:08Secretary Noem acted on the fascist dreams of her leader and sent immigrants to offshore detention centers.
03:14Noem wasted millions to fly immigrants without criminal records to Guantanamo.
03:20And then, she decided to enter into a $6 million deal with El Salvador government
03:26to disappear and mistakenly deport a legal resident, Kilmer Abrego Garcia,
03:32in addition, a hairdresser, soccer players, eight women to a men's prison,
03:39and a long list of immigrants with no criminal records.
03:43The list includes a young man from Chicago whose family had no idea how to reach him
03:47after recognizing him in an authoritarian propaganda video of Noem touring the prison.
03:52All while Trump, Noem, and Rubio weaponized immigration enforcement against activists and dissenting voices
04:00like legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, international student Ramisa Ostork,
04:06and labor rights organizer Alfredo Lelo Juarez.
04:10In three months, Trump and Noem have abused the power of the Department of Homeland Security
04:14to pursue a campaign of persecution, of mass incarceration, and deportation.
04:21Day after day, Noem disregards the authority of Congress, the laws of the land,
04:26the constitutional rights of residence, the court's due process,
04:29and every check and balance that protects us from fascist authoritarians.
04:34There is no way in how that I'm giving this administration one more dollar
04:38to violate our rights and criminalize our communities.
04:40And further, Noem must resign from her position as Secretary of Homeland Security.
04:46Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter demanding Noem's resignation
04:53as a Secretary of Homeland Security.
04:57So ordered, and I believe the gentlelady's time has expired.
05:01It is now. Thank you. With that, I yield back.
05:04Okay, she yields.
05:05Just to let everybody know, I think Secretary Noem's coming in May, May the 14th.
05:09But anyway, who's next?
05:12Ms. Johnson, you're recognized.
05:15Thank you so much.