Latest / NO FILTER / _Just inhumane__ Lawmaker reacts to 4-year-old in need of lifesaving treatment facing deportation(MP3_160K)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: And here with us now is Democratic Congressman Rominandez of
- 0:03Speaker 1: New Jersey. Congressman, you've been here listening to all of that.
- 0:06Speaker 1: What's your reaction.
- 0:08Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking. I mean just thinking about being her parents.
- 0:11Speaker 2: You know, I have two young kids, so thinking about
- 0:13Speaker 2: Sophia's story. It's happening too often across this country, and
- 0:17Speaker 2: it's completely separate from what the President said he would
- 0:21Speaker 2: do upon taking office. He had spoken only about criminals
- 0:24Speaker 2: that were dangerous to our communities. Sophia is not dangerous
- 0:27Speaker 2: to anyone. And if we believe in each individual life,
- 0:31Speaker 2: then we should give her the opportunity to have the
- 0:33Speaker 2: medical care that she needs here, to give her parents
- 0:35Speaker 2: the opportunity to raise a healthy child. That's what this
- 0:38Speaker 2: country is about, and that's what we should be focused on.
- 0:41Speaker 1: We've been covering individual stories here on this show the
- 0:43Speaker 1: last couple of days that each have its own little,
- 0:47Speaker 1: I think element that tugs at the human heart strings.
- 0:52Speaker 1: We've heard of families being deported, parents being kind of
- 0:56Speaker 1: ripped apart away from their family. We're seeing these increasing
- 1:01Speaker 1: cases of people showing up to their core appointments only
- 1:05Speaker 1: to be then having their cases immediately dismissed and then
- 1:08Speaker 1: be created by ICE officials to have immediate deportation. These
- 1:12Speaker 1: are immigrants or migrants who are trying to follow the rules,
- 1:16Speaker 1: who thought that they came into the country and are
- 1:18Speaker 1: working their way legally through the immigration system is doing
- 1:24Speaker 1: it the right way now making them easy targets.
- 1:27Speaker 2: We're putting them in an impossible situation, like you said,
- 1:29Speaker 2: doing what they're required to do, showing up for their
- 1:32Speaker 2: appointments just to find out those cases have been dismissed
- 1:35Speaker 2: and now they're subject to immediate deportation. But the stories
- 1:39Speaker 2: are important because I do think the American people, this
- 1:41Speaker 2: is not what they signed up for. This is not
- 1:43Speaker 2: what they wanted when they perhaps voted for Donald Trump.
- 1:46Speaker 2: This is a very different story that's happening. These stories
- 1:49Speaker 2: are just a small number of what's happening on a
- 1:52Speaker 2: daily basis. We see it from New Jersey to California,
- 1:55Speaker 2: and we're ripping communities apart, We're ripping families apart, and
- 1:58Speaker 2: I don't think that's whats want or believe we should
- 2:01Speaker 2: be doing in this moment. We have a broken immigration system.
- 2:04Speaker 2: We need to fix it. But these stories, these individuals,
- 2:07Speaker 2: people like Sophia should not be the consequence of us
- 2:10Speaker 2: having failed to take action at the federal level and
- 2:12Speaker 2: watching this administration doing what it's doing to just far
- 2:16Speaker 2: too many individuals.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Is there anything that you think would be a tipping
- 2:19Speaker 1: point that would change the administration's approach.
- 2:22Speaker 2: I mean, it's just in humane at this point. There's
- 2:24Speaker 2: just too many stories that we've heard. This is a
- 2:26Speaker 2: purposeful decision that they've made, and they're making these types
- 2:29Speaker 2: of decisions on a daily basis across the country, and
- 2:33Speaker 2: the American people need to step forward and make their
- 2:35Speaker 2: voices heard, because we're doing it in Congress. The representatives
- 2:39Speaker 2: who represent that area of California have signed a letter
- 2:43Speaker 2: and sent it to the administration highlighting this case. But collectively,
- 2:46Speaker 2: we have to say that this is not what are
- 2:49Speaker 2: not reflective of our American values and that we can
- 2:52Speaker 2: do better. We can enforce our immigration laws without having
- 2:55Speaker 2: things like taking Sophia away from her medical providers. So
- 2:59Speaker 2: we need people to speak up and say that this
- 3:00Speaker 2: isn't right and that we need to do better.
- 3:03Speaker 1: You have a fairly large migrant population within the district
- 3:06Speaker 1: that you serve in New Jersey. What's your reaction to
- 3:09Speaker 1: the Supreme Court ruling that just came down this hour
- 3:11Speaker 1: that is going to allow the Trump administration to revoke
- 3:15Speaker 1: the status, the protected status about half a million people.
- 3:18Speaker 2: Yes, when you look at the parole program, its important
- 3:20Speaker 2: for people who know that these people were screened, that
- 3:22Speaker 2: they have a sponsor here in the United States, right,
- 3:24Speaker 2: and they largely go into these communities and immediately contribute
- 3:28Speaker 2: and start laying their roots there. And they were given
- 3:31Speaker 2: assurance by the Biden administration that they would have two
- 3:34Speaker 2: years right because of what's happening in their home countries.
- 3:37Speaker 2: To take that away so quickly is not just upends
- 3:41Speaker 2: their lives, but up ends all the communities that they're
- 3:43Speaker 2: a part of. And people need to really think about
- 3:46Speaker 2: what it would be like for these individuals to find
- 3:48Speaker 2: out on one day they have protected status here in
- 3:50Speaker 2: the country and the next day they don't. It's an
- 3:53Speaker 2: impossible situation that is not reflective of our American values
- 3:59Speaker 2: being a country of immigrants, and it's gonna be i
- 4:02Speaker 2: mentally problematic, not just for those individuals, but the communities
- 4:05Speaker 2: that they're part of.
- 4:06Speaker 1: You went to an ice facility in New York, New Jersey,
- 4:09Speaker 1: and by now it's the video that's been probably seen
- 4:11Speaker 1: around the world, the confrontation with some ICE officials. Now
- 4:15Speaker 1: one of your colleagues, Congresswoman Lamonica mcdiver, is facing actual
- 4:20Speaker 1: charges DOJ. I know as Bretton you and another congress
- 4:25Speaker 1: woman who was there, Bonnie Watson Coleman, of possible charges
- 4:30Speaker 1: as well. What more can you tell us about that situation?
- 4:34Speaker 1: Have you had additional conversations with the DOJ since that moment?
- 4:39Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the lines of communication have been open.
- 4:41Speaker 2: They've clearly moved forward with charging Congressman mcgiver. But what's
- 4:45Speaker 2: important for the American people know is that this was
- 4:47Speaker 2: a clear act of intimidation. We had done these types
- 4:49Speaker 2: of unannounced oversight visits twice before at the Elizabeth Detention Center.
- 4:54Speaker 2: Was our first time doing it at Delaney Hall. But
- 4:56Speaker 2: we have a legal right to do so. Both Republican
- 4:59Speaker 2: and Democratic member do these types of oversight visits. Having
- 5:03Speaker 2: over twenty armed ICE HSI officers come confront us was
- 5:08Speaker 2: meant to intimidate us, was meant to silence us.
- 5:11Speaker 1: And I think what's.
- 5:11Speaker 2: Important for the American people to think about is if
- 5:14Speaker 2: they can do that to members of Congress, what are
- 5:16Speaker 2: they doing on a daily basis in all of our communities,
- 5:20Speaker 2: because when they ask themselves that question, I think people
- 5:23Speaker 2: will come to the conclusion that no one is safe
- 5:25Speaker 2: in Trump's America.
- 5:26Speaker 1: Congressman Robin Endas, thank you very much for coming in.
- 5:29Speaker 2: I appreciate it.