Durbin Debunks Republican Falsehoods On ICE In Chicago, Calls For Secretary Noem To Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee
In this morning’s executive business meeting, Durbin refuted false claims about Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard to Illinois, as well as re-upping Democrats’ months-long call for a DHS oversight hearing
WASHINGTON – At an executive business meeting this morning, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, debunked previously-peddled falsehoods by Senate Judiciary Republicans about President Trump’s unlawful attempt to deploy the National Guard to Illinois, as well as re-upping Democrats’ months-long call for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to testify before the Committee.
Durbin began by refuting U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO)’s false claims on the deployment, saying: “One colleague compared Trump’s actions to President Eisenhower deploying the 101st Airborne Division to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. Most of my colleagues here are too young to remember the civil rights movement, but there is no comparison between Arkansas’s massive resistance to desegregation and Illinoisans’ peaceful and lawful opposition to this Administration’s immigration policies. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called up the Arkansas National Guard to block Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School, in defiance of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The 101st Airborne—dispatched by President Eisenhower—was deployed to ensure these students—the Little Rock 9—could safely attend school. They weren’t teargassing pastors, journalists, and police officers, as federal agents are in Broadview, Illinois. They didn’t rappel from Black Hawk helicopters in the middle of then night to swarm an apartment building, breaking down doors, rousting people out of bed, and zip-tying and detaining U.S. citizens—including children, as federal agents did in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood two weeks ago. That is a fact.”
Durbin then refuted U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)’s false claims on the deployment, citing a ruling by a conservative judge and comments from a Republican governor as additional evidence, saying: “The senior Senator from Texas compared my opposition to Texas’s National Guard being deployed to Illinois to Southern states defending the institution of slavery … The senior Senator from Texas is a good lawyer, and he is well aware of how limited that comparison is. I’m not arguing that states can override federal laws. I am arguing that President Trump is violating federal law … Here’s the reality. The President’s actions are about politics, not public safety. For the past two decades, the murder rate in red states has exceeded the murder rate in blue states. But the President is focused on Chicago, where violent crime is down dramatically. We should build on this success and work together, not undermine it.”
Durbin followed with an admonishment of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s conduct before the Committee at last week’s oversight hearing, saying: “As I told the Attorney General, it is my job to ask fundamental questions about whether the federal government is following the law and constitution. But she refused to tell me the legal basis for deploying the National Guard in Illinois. Instead, she launched irrelevant and false personal attacks. In more than two decades on this Committee, I have never encountered a witness from any administration—Democratic or Republican—respond to legitimate oversight questions with personal attacks. That testimony demonstrated the disdain she has for this Committee and the constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight, regardless of the party in charge of the White House or Congress.”
Durbin concluded by reiterating Democrats’ months-long call for Secretary Noem to testify, saying: “We also need to hear from DHS Secretary Noem. She made time to go to Chicago for a glossy promo video, but she refuses to meet with me and Senator Duckworth. She won’t respond to our oversight requests and denies us access to detention facilities in the state we represent … When I was Chair of this Committee, I held a DHS oversight hearing with Secretary Mayorkas during the first year of the Biden Administration. He faced tough questions from both sides of the aisle … Mr. Chairman, we sent you a letter in June asking when Secretary Noem would appear before the Committee. I hope again, for the record, you will make it known that it will happen soon.”
Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations.
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