Democratic Rep. Norma Torres, who represents parts of Los Angeles County, said today that her “constituents are very scared” of the sweeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions taking place in communities there.
“They don’t want to get caught up in a situation where ICE is profiling and detaining them because of the color of their skin,” Torres said on MSNBC’s “Way Too Early.”
Torres added that she and other Democratic members were barred from entering an ICE facility in downtown LA.
“It’s not supposed to work this way. In the last Trump administration we made sure we changed the law so members of Congress would not be blocked from entering and doing oversight. … Imagine if your loved one just didn’t come home one day and you tried to locate them but ICE is playing a shell game, transferring them from one location to another because they aren’t interest in due process.”
Asked whether she thinks that there is political upside for Republicans on the issue — escalating tensions on the ground in a blue state over a politically salient subject for them — Torres disagreed, although she acknowledged Democrats lost ground with Latino men, for example, due to an inadequate focus on jobs.
“Trump promised to remove criminals, rapists, drug dealers,” she said. “That’s why people voted for him. What he is doing? Forcing their way into elementary schools, conducting raids of school graduations, arresting children, arresting people at work sites. … Now we’re living with the consequence that people didn’t vote for. They have to use their voice in order to be heard once again.”
Regarding Trump’s deployment of the National Guard against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes, Torres said it tells her “the White House doesn’t understand the complexity” or “diversity of California.”
“For the president to push armed troops, with weapons of war, into our community, that is an assault on our states’ rights, our constitutional rights, on every American citizen simply because they want to be outside and protest peacefully,” Torres said. “Yes, I understand there are people creating chaos and being violent, but this is the violence they have encountered, seen ICE use on them. Covering their face, shielding their identities. … So who really is out there arresting people? Are these federal agents or is this the army of Donald Trump?”
