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Date: 2025-08-24 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00029016

DEMOCRATS REP. JASMINE CROCKETT ... MAY 20TH 2025 Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Opening Remarks: While ICE Runs Wild, Trump’s DOJ Targets Congress PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKfC5kQdX3E
Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Opening Remarks: While ICE Runs Wild, Trump’s DOJ Targets Congress Rep. Jasmine Crockett May 20, 2025 344K subscribers ... 814,098 views ... 39K likes Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett opens the Judiciary Committee hearing with a warning: this isn’t justice, it’s retaliation. From ICE agents brutalizing families to Trump’s DOJ targeting members of Congress for doing their jobs, Crockett lays out how the real lawlessness is coming from those in power. She exposes the GOP’s political theater, their silence on abuse, and their obsession with protecting Trump at any cost. This is what happens when power fears accountability and Crockett is here to confront it head on. Rep. Jasmine Crockett Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 You know, I have my prepared remarks and we going to get to them at some point, but there was a lot that was said, including the fact that Delaney Hall is something that was opened up under Obama and seemingly the mayor at the time did not have issues with Delaney Hall. I can tell you that there was a point in time in which Alcatraz was open as well and there seemingly weren't any issues. The fact is as the mayor of any city I want to be clear that there is a duty and that duty is to make sure that any and every building that is opened in that city is up to code. So just because something may have been up to code in 2008 doesn't mean that in 2025 that it was up to code. And there are those that should respect the authority of the city in which they are operating in. And somehow during the later hours of last night, we saw that while the mayor had been unlawfully charged, those charges ended up being 1:01 dropped. The mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey was charged with criminal trespass. Now, we have video footage, and I'm not going to play it, but we have video footage of literally them opening the gate and then asking him to leave and then he left. Therefore, there is no criminal trespass. But the reason that I bring it up is because this entire situation could have been avoided if people just would know their jobs and actually do their jobs. because the entire chaos that ensued. It ensued because of the unlawful detainment and arrest of the mayor in the first place. But let me get to my actual remarks. The Republicans have called today's hearing for one purpose, to help an administration that's already rooted in lawlessness and corruption execute their dangerous assault on American democracy. So, in today's hearing, you'll hear them admonish their own congressional colleagues and excuse the behavior of 2:00 the outofc control, corrupt Trump administration. They're going to try to convince you that they're here to protect law and order and the rule of law, but they won't mention how the Trump administration is openly defying many of the 162 court rulings that have paused his illegal executive orders. They won't talk about how the president has called for the impeachment of judges who rule against him, or how they're allowing ICE agents to raid churches and elementary schools. They won't talk about how they're allowing Trump to purge the Department of Justice of employees who helped investigate the January 6th insurrectionist. They won't talk about how this administration is preparing to give $5 million to the family of Ashley Babbot who participated in said insurrection because they don't actually care about law and order and the rule of law. They're here today for one reason, to forfeit their constitutional oversight responsibilities. 3:03 But since I decided to bring up January 6, let me run a tape to remind y'all of the difference of congressional oversight versus criminals. We're here conducting an oversight visit, which we have the power to do as congressional members. [Music] statutory authority. And so that is what we're here for. And we're waiting to speak to a supervisor to let us in here because [Music] stand up for our mayor. We will be your eyes and your ears and we will report to you. [Music] It's interesting that one set of behavior 4:01 somehow is going to get a family rich overnight. And the other folk the other folk that were there in that video, the members of Congress, well, they're saying, 'Arest them. Let me remind you that those January 6ers have been pardoned. Let me remind you that yet another January 6er was just arrested a few days ago for committing what another crime. So if we're going to talk about us keeping our streets safe, let's be real about who's causing crimes, who actually went through what we call due process because no one denied the January 6th insurrectionist of their due process. They went to court. They either plead guilty or were found guilty and they were sent to prison. And half of them, actually all of them, if their sentences said so, should still be in prison because we as Americans would be safer. We won't get into the fact that another one was already in trouble because they had already killed somebody. But I'll continue on. Right 5:02 now, our Republican colleagues want to forfeit their constitutional oversight responsibilities. Let's talk about what's actually happening. In March, we learned that the Trump administration was dismantling the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and terminating staff at the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services AMBuzzman and in the Office of Immigration Detention of Oz Buzzman because they argue quote these offices have obstructed immigration enforcement and quote undermined DHS's mission. The Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigates public complaints about possible violations of civil rights and civil liberties in DHS activities including immigration enforcement and discrimination and in the immigration detention and as ombbuzzman's primary it is their primary 6:00 responsibility to conduct oversight on conditions at immigration detention centers. So why would the Trump administration want to dismantle offices tasked with conducting oversight of immigration enforcement and detention facilities? The simple answer is without them there will be no internal oversight offices to assess the legality of the Trump administration's policies on immigration enforcement. So what have the results been since Trump took office in Janu on January 20th? Nine detainees have died in ICE custody. In fact, in Trump's first month in office, more detainees died in ICE custody than at any time since fiscal year 2020. Congressional Democrats have engaged in oversight activities of immigration facilities across the country. From Florida, where a 44year-old Haitian 7:02 woman died in ICE custody, to Newark, New Jersey, where three of our Democratic colleagues visited an immigration detention facility to ensure the humane treatment of detainees. This wasn't about going in and breaking nobody out, y'all. especially when there were cameras rolling everywhere. That's not what they were there to do. Now, in a breathtaking act of executive obstruction of congressional oversight and the unprecedented weaponization of the Department of Justice, we have an interim US attorney for New Jersey who for years has argued in court that Donald Trump is above the law. She has announced criminal charges against Congresswoman Maccgyver for quote impeding and interfering with law enforcement. However, our power as members of Congress to conduct oversight 8:01 is found in the Constitution and federal law. In fact, federal law explicitly prohibits DHS from quote preventing a member of Congress from entering for the purpose of conducting oversight any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting member of Congress. It is against the law. Full stop. Separately, the court has consistently held that the speech and debate clause of the Constitution protects individual members from prosecution for legislative acts, including quote factf finding, field investigations, and information 9:01 gathering. The court has consistently held that the primary purpose of the speech and debate clause is to quote prevent intimidation by the executive and before a possibly hostile judiciary. So let's call this for what it is. This administration is criminalizing legislative oversight and the Republicans on this committee are helping them to do so. Rep. Macyver didn't engage in interference. It was ICE that engaged in interference while members of Congress attempted to conduct legitimate oversight of ICE facilities. Everyone, whether you are American or not, should be deeply disturbed and worried about Trump's abuse of power. They're attacking universities for teaching things they don't like. They're attacking law firms for representing clients that they don't like. This hearing and these charges are an attempt at political intimidation. 10:03 The three members in Newark were exercising their constitutional duties to check an outofc control executive branch. This entire situation happened because of the unjust arrest of Mayor Baraka. And not only were the members invited in and given a tour of the facility, this was after they so-called had broken the law. Now, I don't know about y'all, but where I'm from in Texas, I can tell you that I'm not used to having law enforcement see a crime happen right in front of their faces and then say, 'Never mind. We'll just go about our business.' In fact, why don't you go ahead and come on in? Come on in. We gonna do this tour because oops, we did make a mistake because technically by law, we are supposed to allow you in. And wait a minute, while you're here, do y'all want something to drink? We got refreshments for you as well. And then after you conduct this 11:01 oversight and you actually gave a clean bill of health because you were never there to disrupt, you were always there to do your duty. They came out and they said everything looks good. And then it wasn't at that moment that they decided to arrest members. It wasn't the next day. In fact, even as I sit here today, no member has been arrested. Now, you tell me how many times you can see the robber go the bank, steal the money, and then they say, 'Well, never mind. We'll think about this later.' That is what you call politicizing. And that is what we are here to talk about is wrong. But we got a few other issues with ICE right now. So I'm going to get to them in a second. The DOJ, as I said already, has already dropped the charges against the mayor. Look, they're coming after everyone who uses their constitutional rights and duties to speak truth to 12:01 power, the press, the courts, and now members of Congress. And to be perfectly honest, I had my team do the research. Under no other president, Democrat or Republican, can we find an incident where they have tried to arrest members of Congress. This is absolutely absurd that they were out there simply doing their duty. We have never seen ICE act in this way. In fact, it's not less oversight that we need right now. It's more. In fact, I'm gonna tell you. Actually, I'm not gonna tell you. I can show you better than I can tell you. Roll the tape. Shocking video showing the moment ICE agents smashed a car window and forcibly removed a man in New Bedford. 29year-old Juan Francisco Menddees has no criminal record and was 13:04 stop definitely a chaotic scene on Eureka Street Thursday as Worcester police and ICE agents detained a mother and her 16-year-old daughter. That girl's face slammed into the ground as she was taken into custody. They have not been identified. Worcester police said officers were dispatched to the area for a report of a federal agent surrounded by about two dozen people. When police arrived, they say the teen daughter was agents smashed his window and dragged him out while his small children cried in the back seat and his partner recorded the incident. You can't tell me that somebody in this building shouldn't do their jobs because these people are out of control. You're talking about arresting members of Congress. These mass agents are running around acting this way. This is not okay. This shouldn't be about politics. We all should be on the same side saying 14:02 we will not stand for this type of activity. But instead, they want to pretend like it's members of Congress that are the thugs. It's members of Congress that are the ones that are stoking this kind of violence. Let me tell you what those members of Congress were doing. They were trying to make sure that there would not be another mother that would lose her life in ICE custody as it was Mother's Day weekend. They decided that they just wanted to make sure that people were safe because that is who we are supposed to be in this country. And honestly, for anybody that considers themselves to be a Christian, they should care about treating people in a humane way. And they should also care about due process. Everyone in this country under our constitution is due due process. With that, I will yield.

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