Jayapal Hosts Shadow Hearing on Trump’s Assault on Families and Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, today hosted a Shadow Hearing titled Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump's Assault Destroys U.S. Families and Communities. This hearing examined the human costs of deportation on U.S. families and communities. It is the third in her series, Kidnapped and Disappeared, that highlights the multifaceted impacts of Trump's mass deportation agenda.

"Donald Trump lied to the American people. He lied when he said he would bring grocery prices down. He lied when he said he would release the Epstein Files. And he sure as hell lied when it came to immigration enforcement," said Jayapal. "This indiscriminate immigration enforcement has led to an increased number of family separations. According to a report earlier this week, more than 400 children have been sent to Office of Refugee Settlement shelters from the interior of the United States. In some cases, parents are being told their children will be taken away unless they give up their right to a hearing and to their country of birth. In other cases, children who arrived as unaccompanied minors are being sent back to government shelters for months after they had already been released to vetted sponsors. Families belong together, today we heard absolutely heartbreaking stories about how so many have been ripped apart - and we will continue to shine a light on these horrifying cases."

The witnesses at this hearing included testimony from Chelsea White, a U.S. citizen whose husband was detained and deported following a traffic stop and who has relocated her three U.S. citizen children to Mexico to keep her family together, Mimi Lettunich, who is caring for four U.S. citizen children who were detained and interrogated by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and whose parents and grandmother remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran and the Chief Executive Officer of Vet Voice Foundation, Robert Lynch, author of "Warning Signs of Economic Harms from Deportations" and Professor of Economics Emeritus at Washington College, and Nayna Gupta, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council.

"I came to Congress today because families like mine deserve better. We deserve policies that recognize the human cost of deportation. Our children, especially those with disabilities, deserve the chance to thrive. Families belong together, without being forced to choose between love and survival," said Chelsea White.

"A mother and her 4 American children were disappeared by our government, nearly deported under false pretenses, and stripped of their rights. It's critical that we alter the precedent that is forming, not just for this family, but for all the others who don't have representation and are being moved out as swiftly as possible. We are beyond awareness. Everybody is looking for action," said Mimi Lettunich.

"Four mass deportation episodes have been carefully studied by economists. In each of these episodes, proponents of the deportations asserted that the policy would raise wages, grow the economy, and create jobs for American workers because immigrants "are stealing our jobs". But in each case the opposite happened: American workers lost jobs, their wages did not go up, and the economy did not grow. We are seeing in the Construction, Agricultural, and Leisure and Hospitality industries the harmful economic effects of the deportations that are currently taking place. If deportations continue apace or further accelerate, we can expect that the data will increasingly reflect economic injury throughout the economy," said Robert Lynch.

"For more than two centuries, America has kept a bright line between the military and civilian law enforcement. That line protects our freedom. Soldiers are trained to fight wars, not to run domestic immigration detention centers. Forcing them into the role of immigration enforcers tears them from their families, pits them against their own communities, costs taxpayers millions, and weakens readiness for real emergencies," said Janessa Goldbeck.

"While nannies disappear from local parks and masked agents drag immigrant fathers from cars, this administration continues to use safety as a pretext for mass deportation, but it is mass deportation itself that makes all Americans less safe. They are diverting resources away from real public safety priorities to focus on low-level immigration arrests of hardworking and longstanding members of our communities while eroding public trust in law enforcement, which undermines safety for everyone," said Nayna Gupta.

The hearing was attended by Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Becca Balint (VT-AL), Judy Chu (CA-28), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), John Garamendi (CA-08), Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Deborah Ross (NC-02), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Juan Vargas (CA-52).

Issues: Immigration