Fighting Dhs Immigration Raids

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I represent California's Central Coast where close to half of our residents are Latino and where farmworkers are essential pillars of our community.

Since Trump's return to the White House, our community has experienced an unprecedented level of chaos, fear from ICE raids, and family separations. I witnessed one of these raids myself in Carpinteria, California, where ICE agents unleashed a disproportionate show of force.

What I saw was completely unacceptable, masked ICE agents in military gear firing tear gas and other projectiles into a crowd of peaceful civilians and reporters. Even a child was injured by shrapnel.

Upon seeing these violent tactics, I demanded to speak to the person in charge, but I was denied.

As the elected Representative of the Central Coast, I have a duty to respond to my constituents and demand accountability for ICE's actions that day.

Sadly, this has not been an isolated incident. Throughout the year, ICE has carried out aggressive, indiscriminate, and often unjustified operations across our country, actions that erode our freedom and undermine our civil rights and public trust in government.

ICE claims they need to be aggressive to keep us safe, but how does harassing law-abiding farmworkers, families, and children make anyone safer?

While I agree our immigration system is broken, cruelty is not the solution. Harassment is not reform.

We must continue to shine a light on the Trump administration's abuses. We must enact legislation that holds ICE accountable and builds a fair immigration system.

At the end of the day, this is about who we are as a Nation. True reform is possible, and I will keep fighting to make it happen.

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