On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) stated that California should resist deportation efforts from President Donald Trump even under threat of prosecution.
Host Joy Reid asked, [relevant exchange begins around 42:50] “Donald Trump believes, apparently, that…he needs the visual of blue states — of immigrants in blue states suffering, being dragged out of restaurants, dragged out of schools. He wants that in blue states. He wanted it in Illinois. That was a no. He would love to have it in California. Will California resist that, even at the threat of prosecution?”
Garcia responded, “We have to. This is about our values as a people. I’m an immigrant myself. This idea that, now, as an American, that is born in the United States is not an American because a parent might be undocumented or a parent is on a visa that is a legal visa, by the way, if you’re born in this country, you’re an American. If you’ve been here for ten, 20 years and you’ve worked hard, you’re in the back of our favorite restaurant, you’re working in a small business, you are part of our country. So, this is, I think, a moment, like you said, that, as a community, and as a country, we have to look deep inside and think, who are we? Are we going to be good people? Are we going to be humane people? Are we going to be true patriots that believe that all of us are part of this country, we all helped build this country? I think what Donald Trump is doing is dangerous, but we’ve got to fight back. This is not a moment to work with Donald Trump, to work with the Republicans on an immigration solution. They’re going to steamroll us. We’ve got to fight like hell.”
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