Maxwell Frost Slams Witnesses For Spreading ‘Racist, Far-Right Fiction’ To ‘Dehumanize Immigrants’

6 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) questioned witnesses about the southern border, anti-immigrant rhetoric and crime statistics.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Frost. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Since the beginning of his campaign for

00:06President, Donald Trump in 2015 has been consistently propagating hateful

00:11extremist rhetoric about immigrants, including falsehoods depicting all

00:16Mexican immigrants as criminals, as drug dealers, and as rapists. At a campaign

00:21event just last month, Trump claimed that immigrants are poisoning the blood

00:26of this country. The Republican witnesses here today are the latest in a line of

00:31people spreading racist, far-right fiction in an attempt to dehumanize

00:36immigrants. Mr. Beer, I want to get back to some truth in this conversation. Is

00:41someone more likely to commit a crime if they are born in the United States or if

00:46they are foreign-born? If they are born in the United States. And you wrote in a

00:52Time article that I have right here, quote, no matter how researchers slice the

00:56data, through the numbers show that immigrants commit fewer crimes than

01:01native-born Americans. But that's not good enough for Trump followers. They

01:04firmly believe that immigrants make America less safe. What the anti-

01:08immigration crowd needs to understand is that not only are immigrants less likely

01:12to commit crimes than native-born Americans, but they're also, but they

01:16also protect us from crime in several ways, end quote. And you're 100% right in

01:21that. Several studies show that immigrants are 46% less likely to

01:25commit a crime, and that in communities that have had an influx of undocumented

01:30immigrants, crime actually goes down. Collectively, American undocumented

01:34immigrants pay an estimated $11.64 billion, billion dollars, in

01:41state and local taxes every single year. And the average undocumented immigrant

01:46has been living and contributing to the economic success of our country for

01:50between 10 and 14 years. These are folks who are literally putting more into our

01:55system than they're taking out because they're undocumented. These are our

02:00friends, our family, teachers, substitute teachers, people who work in the medical

02:06field, people who work in hospitality, our neighbors, my family. Mr. Beer, how might

02:13white supremacist falsehoods about an invasion put immigrant communities in

02:17danger? Look, we've talked about this before. We've seen the El Paso shooter

02:23manifesto, the Buffalo shooter. You go to Charlottesville, you saw what happened

02:29there. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. I mean, the number of crimes where now

02:35dozens of people have been murdered, it's astounding. They are saying

02:40what's motivating them. It's this idea that these people are invaders,

02:45and therefore they can be responded to with military-style force. Yeah, and it

02:51just makes me wonder because we keep hearing from colleagues on the other side of the aisle,

02:54some of these witnesses, that I guess the rate doesn't matter or the data doesn't

02:58matter. And what really matters are the families and the victims, which I

03:04100% agree with, but then they completely disregard the families and

03:08victims of immigrant communities because of the hateful rhetoric that they are

03:12pushing. What about the friends and families of victims who have been

03:15murdered in schools across this country because my colleagues refuse to do

03:19anything to end gun violence? Does that matter? I guess not. We've already seen

03:24how this hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric has been taken up by bad actors to

03:28justify horrific violence against everyday Americans. And for example, when

03:33a gunman walked into a Walmart store killing 23 people and injuring another

03:3722. Almost exactly a year ago, Oversight Committee Democrats called on Chairman

03:42Comer and every Oversight Republican to condemn this rhetoric. Mr. Chair, I ask

03:46unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter dated March 6, 2023, from

03:51Ranking Member Raskin to Chairman Comer, yet again inviting you to condemn white

03:56nationalism and white supremacy in all forms, including the Great Replacement

04:00Theory. Without objection. Not only have my Republican colleagues refused to

04:07condemn this extreme rhetoric, but they've also invited witnesses here

04:11who keep pushing it. I mean, we have Mr. Chapman, a sheriff, who should

04:16really be focused on the real causes of crime and violence. Under his watch, gun

04:20related injuries surged by 57% in 2021. Mr. Chapman, I have one simple

04:26question for you. Do you know who your county sheriff's office pays to do the

04:31firearm disposal and how much you pay them for your firearms disposal? I would

04:37argue the statistics that you just mentioned about our... That's not the

04:39question I asked, Sheriff. I just want to know... I think it's important to correct the

04:43record. I'd like to know who your office pays for firearm disposal and how much

04:48you pay them. Our firearms are handled by our firearms unit and any disposal will

04:51come under them. Okay, gotcha. Most or many law enforcement agencies contract

04:57with disposal companies and something that is of grave concern to me is that a

05:01lot of these companies are not doing what they've promised and they're not

05:04destroying firearms and we're seeing these firearms being put back on the

05:07streets, which is why I introduced my bill, Destroy Zombie Guns Act, which makes

05:11serious reforms to help keep all Americans safer. I implore my colleagues

05:15on this committee to co-sponsor the bill and to join me in fighting for real

05:19positive change for public safety for all people. Thank you. I yield back.

Maxwell Frost Slams Witnesses For Spreading ‘Racist, Far-Right Fiction’ To ‘Dehumanize Immigrants’

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