At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) slammed the Trump Administration's actions on immigration.
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00:00Yield to the gentlelady from the great state of Texas, the ranking member of the subcommittee, Ms. Crockett.
00:06Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and Mr. Hauser.
00:09Thank you so much for your service.
00:11I do want to make sure that we are clear on your credentials because you actually have them.
00:14I have that you were the Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs at Homeland Security, correct?
00:20At one time, yes, ma'am, about 15 years ago.
00:22You were Deputy Chief of Staff at Homeland as well?
00:25Yes, ma'am.
00:26You served as a Senior Advisor to the Commission as Homeland's Custom and Border Protection.
00:32Yes, ma'am.
00:32As well as you recently served as the Chief of Staff for ICE.
00:36Yes, ma'am.
00:37Okay, so you've done a few things.
00:38I'm also a combat veteran.
00:40Okay, well, thank you for your service in all ways.
00:43Here, listen, I have a series of issues of what's going on because I will say that the Republicans were right.
00:51Democrats lost on immigration.
00:53When you look at all the polling, when you talk to people, they lost on immigration.
00:57And frankly, I am concerned that we did not have conversations that went beyond just talking about the humanity because there are people that literally don't care about humanity, which is why we are able to have this administration doing the things that they're doing.
01:14Talking about the fact that border crossings are down 95%, well, I don't know if I can trust that number or not.
01:19You know why?
01:20Because, first of all, they've been going out, they've been firing all of the persons that usually deal with data, science, and facts all over in all agencies.
01:30In addition to the fact that even if that is a real number, we don't know if they got to that number just because, well, this is a lawless administration that is consistently in violation of people's constitutional rights,
01:43the Constitution in and of itself, court orders, so we can't really explain exactly why and how, even if that is true.
01:52And at some point in time, you have to say there is a balancing test.
01:56Either we are going to follow the law fully or we're not at all.
02:01And frankly, what I've seen out of this administration is that they don't want to follow the law.
02:04But there is something that you said in your opening remarks that really stuck with me.
02:09There was a line that I wrote down.
02:12You said, line cooks and landscapers.
02:16Now, I have talked to those that are in construction.
02:20I have talked to those that are farmers.
02:23I have talked to a lot of people that have said that because of the reckless acts of so many of these ICE agents,
02:33they can't even get their workers to show up to work because of what they're doing.
02:39Now, you correct me if I'm wrong.
02:42As somebody that practiced criminal law, I never saw that we needed ICE to go and arrest somebody, say, for murder.
02:49Is ICE the only agency that has the authority to arrest somebody, say, if they go out and commit murder?
02:56No, ma'am, they're not.
02:57What about aggravated robbery?
03:00No, ma'am.
03:00What about rape?
03:02No, ma'am.
03:02Okay, so in fact, nine times out of ten, the primary arresting agency when it comes to, say, committing a crime such as aggravated robbery, rape, murder,
03:15would that be ICE, would that be the primary arresting and investigatory agency to do that in the first place?
03:23No, ma'am.
03:24Okay.
03:25All right, so I just wanted to make sure I was on the right page because I get a little confused sometimes when we're around here.
03:30Now, we have talked about a lot of the kind of back and forth between the branches,
03:35and this idea of checks and balances seems to escape certain folk in the chamber.
03:43And so I really want to ask you just a couple of questions to make sure I'm not the one that has lost my marbles.
03:50Who has the right to conduct oversight?
03:53Or let me ask you this way.
03:55Does Congress have the power to conduct federal oversight over detention facilities?
03:59Yes, ma'am.
04:00I mean, quite frankly, a bit of confusion that I've been hearing today, oversight by Congress is, of course, mandated by law.
04:05But additionally, oversight also, not only in the immigration space, protects the migrants, but also protects law enforcement through public safety
04:14in making sure they have the resources they need.
04:17In my position over 15 years at the department, I oversaw hundreds of visits by congressional members, advocacy groups, immigration groups, law enforcement groups,
04:26and in no way did I ever see the sort of situation that we saw in Delaney Hall where there was a powder keg
04:32driven by the political theater being driven by the White House.
04:35That's exactly right.
04:36And that's actually why I wanted to make sure I talked about the fact that you had credentials
04:40and you've actually been in this space.
04:42That was not normal.
04:43And the idea that they would somehow say that it's their colleagues that were the ones that were driving it,
04:49which is why I made sure that I showed video footage of Representative McIver very calmly telling them why she was there.
04:58And frankly, it is sad that we do have to go through this kind of political theater because, listen, we all know what it is.
05:04That's why they hired everybody from Fox News, because all they're trying to do is put on for a show.
05:09This is not The Apprentice Show.
05:11This is supposed to be about the American people, and I want us to start to refocus our attention on the American people
05:17and stop demonizing every daggone person that ends up in custody of ICE
05:23because they are not necessarily demons just because ICE decided to rime them up.
05:28So thank you for your testimony.
05:29Can I answer that question?
05:30No.
05:31The gentle lady yields back.