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A group of House Democrats who've been critical of President Trump's immigration enforcement policies left Washington today to gather in Minnesota for a field hearing titled Kidnapped and Disappeared Trump's Deadly assault on Minnesota, featuring testimony from people impacted by ICE raids in the state. Congresswoman Catherine Clark of Massachusetts, the House Democratic Whip, led that hearing and joined us from the Minnesota State Building in Saint Paul.
Listen, well, Joe, thank you, thank you for having me on and bringing attention to this hearing that we held today. And let me tell you, hearing it firsthand from people who have been taken by ICE, US citizens, detained for no reason whatsoever, ripped out of their car, having a tear gas put in through the air filter of their car, just for honking their horn and blowing a whistle. The stories that we heard, and of course we have all seen the horrific video of the shooting of re Rene Good.
They really bring to life what is at stake here in Minneapolis and here across the country if we continue to allow ICE to have this unlawful reign of terror on our communities, and so going to your question about what do we do about it as we are having one of the funding bills that funds the Department of Homeland Security coming up potentially next week, and the answer is, we have been very clear with Republicans there needs to be accountability and guardrails in this funding or they are
going to have to fund this on their own, because we need to see that we are going to have body cameras, that we are going to have the ability to have actual arrest warrants, that there is going to be proper training for these officers, that we are going to have to look about how ICE is deploying these people who do not seem to have the training or the temperament to protect our communities and is being targeted by this administration in a highly political way.
Well, I know Boston and the Boston area has been part of the areas targeted by ICE, whether it's Everet or Revere. With what you just described, If you can get legislation that puts body cameras on agents and provides training for deconfliction, for de escalation, will Democrats be on board?
Listen, We're in active negotiations over this weekend. But we need to see real change and a real commitment to it from this administration. And so we have to be assured that the billions of dollars that they have poured in too Ice, it's sevenfold the size agency that it was. It is now the largest law enforcement agency in the
federal government, is actually serving a national security purpose. And what we saw today in this hearing, what we heard from people in Minnesota, whether that was the chief of police, whether it was the mayor of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We got to speak with the governor earlier, the Attorney General, all of them with the same message. If this is happening in Minnesota, it can happen in your hometown as well.
And so we at this moment have.
To stand up for our constitution, for the rule of law, for fundamental fairness, and the end of terror that we're seeing here in Minneapolis.
Congress Woman, while your group today obviously feels very strongly about this, are you getting any assurances from your colleagues or colleagues on the other side of the aisle that they would be in favor of this and that you can get it done fairly quickly.
I have to say.
In a day that was filled with both outrage and inspiration, it was just such a blow to know that not a single Republican from Minnesota has spoken out against what they're seeing happening in their own communities.
And it is not just restrained to the Twin Cities.
It is throughout Minnesota, and as you know Joe pointed out, throughout communities in my district and across the country.
So this is the moment.
This isn't a left or right issue, a red or blue issue.
This is about.
Who are we going to be? Are we going to be a country that has law enforcement that is working for the safety and security of our communities, that are accountable and transparent and well trained, or are we going to have a mass paramilitary special force that is working on behalf of the president and carrying out political retribution. And this should not be a partisan issue. So we're
going to continue to negotiate. I hope that people will come and hear what happened in Minneapolis and take those lessons of this is the moment History is calling us to stand up at this moment and say, while we are fighting for the economic security to lower the cost of living, for Americans make sure we protect their healthcare.
We also have to stand up at this moment for our constitutional rights, whether it's the First Amendment right to protest peacefully, or whether it is the right to just go about your daily life and not have to fear being stopped, asked for papers, and possibly abducted.
Congresswoman, this is all happening within weeks of a possible government shut down. Are you willing to shut down the government over this?
You know, we have had one approach around these government budgets, and that is negotiate and imploring our Republican colleagues to come to the table and negotiate with us.
And we saw what happened back in the fall.
Rather than coming and working with us around extending the ACA tax credits, they chose to go home, to close the government down, and to leave town for over forty days. I certainly hope they are not going to make that choice now and do that again to the American people, to our economy, and to the message that it would send that they are unwilling to come and negotiate around guardrails for ICE and DHS and would choose ACA.
Matter is still not resolved Congresswoman, I'm just wondering where your head is on this. I know there's the Bernie Marino bill in the Senate, but senators just left town House won't be here when they get back. Is the extension of Obamacare subsidies on the rocks?
Oh? It certainly is.
And what a tragedy and what a statement to the American people. We had seventeen Republican members of Congress join us in a three year extension to give time to the American people to delay the pikes we're seeing in premiums and to leave DC without resolving this, to let the last day of enrollment in the ACA come and go.
It is just part of what we are seeing in difference on.
Behalf of this administration, and my colleagues across the island Congress to the plight of American people, and they are telling us loudly they can't afford their lives, whether it's the cost of housing or groceries or utility bills. And certainly, what is so fundamental to giving your family security to have affordable health insurance so they can get care when
and where they need it. All of that has been turned upside down by Republicans and Congress and this administration taking away healthcare.
In order to fund tax cuts. But we will stay with it.
We will keep the pressure up, whether it's on healthcare, whether it's on lowering costs, certainly on whether it is putting guardrails and accountability and stopping this invasion.
Advice in Minnesota