Ice, Surveillance, and Trump

Floor Speech

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Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to denounce the Trump administration's police state tactics in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York City, and so many other cities across the country.

We should speak clearly about what is happening.

Masked agents of the state in unmarked vehicles are terrorizing communities. They are disappearing people. They are targeting political opponents of the President.

They are using militarized force to silence, intimidate, and brutalize not just Americans who are exercising their First Amendment rights but also members of the press.

They are partnering with Trump's donors, Silicon Valley oligarchs, for a sinister and deeply un-American agenda of surveillance and criminalization based on people's political views or, in some cases, just based on where they live.

There was a story that Trump told during the campaign about the need to restore law and order, about the need to target criminals. Within moments of assuming the Presidency for the second time, though, his true agenda became clear.

The administration has no interest whatsoever in targeting criminals. What they want is to fulfill Stephen Miller's white nationalist fantasy. They are targeting law-abiding people. In fact, they are punishing immigrants who are following the law.

Let me say that again: They are punishing immigrants who are following the law.

That is what it means to use IRS data to target people. It means targeting people who are paying their taxes. That is what it means to send agents, with their faces covered by bandanas, to immigration court to arrest people while leaving their hearings. They are punishing people who are doing things the right way by showing up to court and going through the process.

It can be a little easy in politics to point out the hypocrisy on the other side and to point out people's inconsistencies when their own party is in charge. Yet, I can't ignore the irony that the Republican Party has spent my entire life railing about Big Brother when Democrats want to put simple things like energy standards on appliances.

For the last 4 years, the majority has gone on and on about the weaponization of the Federal Government. My Republican colleagues created a special subcommittee here in the House, which I happily voted for, to hammer the idea that Americans were being targeted based on their political views.

I wonder, when the Federal Government is sending marines to break up protests in Los Angeles, why are we hearing little from that side about the States' rights.

I wonder, when unaccountable rogue agencies are partnering with tech companies like Palantir to surveil and profile Americans, why are we hearing so little from the other side about civil liberties.

I also wonder, when people are being arrested, stripped of their green cards, and deported because they do not agree with our government's position on Gaza, why are we hearing so little from that side about the weaponization of the Federal Government.

The American people are right to be disturbed by these unmistakably fascist tactics, and they are showing up in numbers to oppose the militarized raids. They are using their constitutional rights to oppose the brutality of Trump and Miller's policies.

I stand in solidarity with the people in my district and across this country who are coming out to peacefully make their voices heard and demand respect for our constitutional rights and values.

The people who are standing up for their neighbors, standing up for families, and standing up for communities are showing more patriotism and more genuine commitment to our founding ideals than the people running the executive branch. This administration will not last forever, and the reactions of everyday Americans to this authoritarianism give me heart.

A couple of weeks ago, after an ICE raid at a pizzeria in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, two people gave quotes to local news that have been making the rounds. One of them said: ``It is just made to instill fear, and I am not sure why we need fear in our communities instead of love and caring and community.''

That is what we are about in this country, and that is what we will continue to stand up for.

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