{"id":74198,"date":"2025-07-22T12:37:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74198"},"modified":"2025-07-28T12:37:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T19:37:30","slug":"watch-padilla-sets-the-record-straight-on-trump-administrations-harmful-mass-deportation-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74198","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Padilla Sets the Record Straight on Trump Administration\u2019s Harmful Mass Deportation Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Highlighted\u00a0testimony<\/a>\u00a0from Alejandro Barranco \u2014 a veteran and the son of Narciso, who was violently detained by masked CBP agents in Orange County<\/em><\/p>\n

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WATCH<\/a>: Padilla criticizes Trump and Republicans for backtracking on pledge to target violent criminals<\/em><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, joined a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing to set the record straight on President Trump and Stephen Miller\u2019s cruel mass deportation campaign, blasting the Administration for intentionally stoking fear and scapegoating immigrants.<\/p>\n

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Padilla emphasized that far from the Trump Administration\u2019s stated plan to target violent criminals,\u00a0less than 10 percent<\/a>\u00a0of immigrants whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has taken into custody have serious criminal convictions, and there has been a staggering\u00a0500 percent increase<\/a>\u00a0in the number of arrests of noncitizens without criminal records. He stressed that these ICE sweeps often illegally profile and target people based on their race, accents, or occupation, while hurting the economy by ripping away farm workers, service industry employees, and other essential workers.<\/p>\n

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Padilla called out Republicans for attempting to distract from the\u00a0sharp turn in public opinion<\/a>\u00a0away from the President\u2019s immigration policy by relitigating complaints from the Biden presidency more than six months into Trump\u2019s second term. An\u00a0all-time record 79 percent<\/a>\u00a0of Americans believe immigration is a good thing for the country.<\/p>\n

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He also criticized the $150 billion funding surge to carry out Trump\u2019s enforcement agenda in Republicans\u2019 billionaire-first reconciliation bill, underscoring that ICE\u2019s budget is now larger than the budget of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Prisons combined.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s clear why we\u2019re here today: we\u2019re here because Donald Trump is scapegoating immigrants,\u201d\u00a0said Padilla in committee.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s always been his outlet. This is their break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option when public sentiment turns against them and their agenda. It hasn\u2019t been about only targeting violent criminals and it\u2019s certainly not about fixing or modernizing our immigration system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Padilla\u00a0questioned<\/a>\u00a0three witnesses on the Trump Administration\u2019s harmful immigration enforcement. He asked Deborah Fleischaker, a former ICE Acting Chief of Staff and longtime Department of Homeland Security official, to set the record straight that the Biden Administration encouraged ICE to do its job to detain violent criminals. He also highlighted the need for additional funding beyond immigration enforcement to support the hiring of more immigration judges and asylum officers.<\/p>\n

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Padilla heard further from Alejandro Barranco \u2014 a Marine veteran and the eldest son of Narciso Barranco, who was\u00a0violently detained<\/a>\u00a0by masked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Orange County \u2014 about the dangers of indiscriminate immigration enforcement, including sweeping up hardworking people with no history of violent crime.<\/p>\n

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