Dem Rep Grisham on ICE Raids: ‘We Have a Job To Protect As Many Families As We Can’

During a discussion on recent immigration enforcement and raids on Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) said, “We have a job to protect as many families as we can, and to do what can to work with the Trump administration to minimize the kind of mass hysteria.”

Grisham stated that she left her meeting with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials “distressed and with many more questions. They basically showed us that 683 people were detained and deported. We don’t know where they were detained. We don’t know how many were actually deported, how long that took, whether there was any due process, whether they were using warrants. There was inconsistent information, but they did show that 176 were not individuals that they would consider as meeting the criminal criteria for detainment or deportation, but they were picked up as well.”

She added that “no one would disagree” that “dangerous criminals, nefarious violent actors” are “exactly who ought to be considered a priority for picking up, arresting, and deporting.” But that ICE agreed in its meeting that they were making wider sweeps and that Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan said that all of the 11 million people in the US illegally are subject to deportation.

Grisham also argued, “I will tell you that there’s grave concerns, not only by the Hispanic Caucus, but by so many advocates and organizations, that, you had an 18-year-old, without familial support, we’re just — it’s the cruelest act I’ve heard to really impact and separate these families.”

Grisham concluded, “We have a job to protect as many families as we can, and to do what can to work with the Trump administration to minimize the kind of mass hysteria.”

(h/t Grabien)

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