'Should Be Condemned By Both Parties': Suhas Subramanyam Decries Treatment Of Alex Padilla

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At today's House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) decried the treatment of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Transcript

00:00It's back. Chair recognizes Mr. Superman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I first want to say that

00:06what happened this afternoon, this afternoon's manhandling of Senator Alex Padilla after he

00:14sought to speak at a public press conference was wrong and should be condemned by both parties,

00:20by every member in this chamber. But it follows a pattern in this administration of weaponizing

00:27law enforcement and using excessive force to attack peaceful protests and political opponents.

00:35And it's really, it's terrible. I mean, you know, we're talking about, we're talking about what's

00:44going on in sanctuary states, quote unquote. But, you know, I live in Virginia and we're not a sanctuary

00:49state, but what is happening is that our sheriff's office has made a decision to participate in the

00:57287G program and basically working with ICE to show up in schools, show up in businesses,

01:06and try to basically attack kids, right? Detain kids. And this is wrong. And this is not what

01:14our country is about. And so I, you know, I do not want us to be supporting these types of actions.

01:21Yesterday in Sterling, Virginia, we had mass men show up to a courthouse and detain people and arrest

01:31people. And a lot of this is peaceful. And this, again, follows this pattern of weaponizing law

01:41enforcement and weaponizing the DOJ and other places to attack political opponents, attack peaceful

01:50protests, and to go around trying to make a political point. And because I think that's what

01:56this is really about. This is about politics. And this is about using law enforcement to show strength,

02:02but that's not strength. That's not strength. And so the other thing about this is none of this is

02:08making our communities safer. And none of this is good for our country. And so I want to ask

02:14Governor Walts, do these raids and do these actions and this use of law enforcement, is it making

02:21folks in Minnesota safer? Well, thank you, Congressman. In my opinion, no. It's causing chaos and fear

02:29amongst folks and characterizing folks who are waiting on asylum claims, who are trying to become

02:35naturalized. It causes chaos. And the other thing it does, it causes local law enforcement. They lose

02:41trust in the community. It puts them at risk. And the lack of coordination that we hear that no calls

02:47are coming in, we always coordinate. And in the past, Democratic and Republican administrations have

02:52coordinated with us. We're not seeing it. It's creating chaos and fear. And like, yes, get these stories

02:59of these violent criminals. We hold them. We call DHS. But those violent criminals aren't at a preschool.

03:06That's what we have to get right. Go after why you're doing this. Get us a bipartisan bill that

03:13makes sure that folks can process and be documented. And let's make this country prosperous and continue

03:18to have a country. Exactly. Because that's a great point. Because if we really want to solve immigration,

03:23why don't we do a bipartisan immigration reform bill? We can strengthen our border. We can find

03:28a path for those who've been here for a long time. We can actually solve this problem in Congress.

03:33But instead, we're going around with mass men, intimidating people, throwing U.S. senators to the

03:40ground, and not solving any problem. And Governor Pritzker, you know, I've talked to a lot of businesses

03:46in my community who are really concerned about what's going on. And this is not good for our economy

03:51either. And so I'd ask you, Governor Pritzker, what do you feel, is this good for your state?

03:55Is this making folks in your state safer or well off or better off?

04:01Congressman, thank you. And no, this is making us worse off. It's making, it's actually harming

04:07public safety. It's frightening our communities. And frankly, if you're one of the people, the

04:12U.S. citizens that are getting taken off the streets, or people who are here in this country

04:16legally taken off the streets, I mean, imagine what effect that has on the rest of the population.

04:23And in my state, you know, we reject that. I mean, the values of the people of the state

04:27of Illinois reject that. And I just want to say, because Congresswoman Miller would not

04:32allow me to, I just want to say, very importantly, that anyone who is condoning the $400 million

04:39airplane going to the President of the United States from the Qataris, who would spy on us

04:45in an instant, if they were able to do this, anybody who's condoning the President of the

04:50United States accepting the Chinese Communist Party money to his family through his meme coin.

04:58I mean, that is corruption. And yet, that is what Congresswoman Miller is condoning. She's

05:04the one who thinks it's okay to pardon people who attack police right here at the Capitol.

05:08Thank you for giving me that moment.

05:10I'll back.

05:11Gentlemen, time's expired. Chair recognizes Ms. Fishback from Minnesota.

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