Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) shared on Wednesday a video clip of herself speaking during an “emergency press conference” held in early July, garnering some controversy online.
“It’s time to escalate our fight back, and our push back, against this fascist government. It’s time for us to reconsider what ICE is all about,” Rep. Ramirez said in the clip.
“It’s time to defund ICE, because $150 billion of your taxpayer dollars is going to ICE. You know where it’s not going? It’s not going to Medicaid. You know where it’s not going? It’s not going to higher education. You know where it’s not going? It’s not going to nutrition. You know where it’s not going? It’s not going to infrastructure. It’s not going to the communities that need it for their daily quality of life,” she continued.
Rep. Ramirez made her comments during a July 9 press conference held in the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago in response to ICE activity nearby. On July 8, several officials in Chicago said federal agents descended on the museum, claiming ICE was trying to intimidate the immigrant communities in Chicago into submission.
Specifically, the officials said more than a dozen U.S. Department of Homeland Security vehicles arrived at the museum, spending approximately two hours on site without any prior notice or a valid warrant.
According to Alderman Jessie Fuentes (D-26th Ward), the agents also refused to leave when asked by museum staff, claiming they could be “wherever” they wanted “whenever.”
Security footage from the museum does show federal agents inside the building, as well as a large group of cars and people gathered in the parking lot.
However, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that they were targeting the building in any way, saying their Chicago Financial Crimes Task Force “staged and held a quick briefing in the Museum’s parking lot in advance of an enforcement action related to a narcotics investigation.”
“Once again, the media and Sanctuary City politicians are shamefully peddling a false narrative in an attempt to demonize our ICE enforcement agents, who are already facing a 700% surge in assaults against them,” McLaughlin said in an emailed statement.
Rep. Ramirez reposted the clip of her statement on X on Wednesday, including the caption, “I said what I said.”
The post was met with some outrage, including users on X demanding that Rep. Ramirez be deported herself.
“Yeah, I’m not taking Ramirez seriously. She is literally a product of our failed immigration system. An anchor baby with ties to her racial kin trying to break the law crossing the border and overstaying visas,” one comment said.
Rep. Ramirez is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, both of whom were undocumented at the time of her birth but have since become U.S. citizens. She was born and raised in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, where the Puerto Rican Arts & Culture museum is located.
The congresswoman’s husband is also undocumented, though he is currently applying for citizenship.
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Author: Kristina Watrobski
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