Kennedy questions Wong on extreme immigration views in Judiciary
Kennedy: You’re on the board of directors of the California Immigrant Policy Center, is that right?
Witness: Yes, it is.
Kennedy: And I’m looking at your website. You and the center believe, I want to quote if that’s okay, according to you and the center, “The immigration enforcement system is built on white supremacy, economic exploitation, and criminalization and must be dismantled,” end quote. Is that correct?
Witness: I’m not aware of that statement.
Kennedy: Here it is, right from your website, and you’re on the board of directors. Do you believe that our immigration system is built on white supremacy?
Witness: No, sir. Well, you said it, Professor.
Kennedy: Now, did you lie here, or are you lying to us today?
Witness: No, I did not write that statement. I’m on the board of directors of an organization called the California Immigrant Policy Center that advocates for legislative changes in the state of California to improve the lives of immigrants. I’m not aware of that statement.
Kennedy: Well, you ought to go look at your website.
Witness: Are you talking about my personal website?
Kennedy: I’m talking about the California Immigrant Policy Center.
Witness: Yes, I’m not aware of that
Kennedy: statement on the California Immigrant Policy Center website that the immigration enforcement system in America today is, quote, “built on white supremacy.”
That’s not my statement.
Yes, it is. You’re on the board. It’s built on economic exploitation, and it’s built on criminalization, and it must be dismantled. You also say, you and the center, that you want to, quote, “strategically push ICE out of our communities across California,” end quote.
Kennedy: Wow. So, an extensive body of research shows that interior immigration enforcement, to the extent that ICE partners with local police, has chilling effects across immigrant communities and their families.
Did you listen to Ms. Noble’s testimony?
Yes, I did, with great concern.
Kennedy: Yeah, you think getting rid of ICE is going to help young women not be raped and murdered by MS13 gang members? Is that your answer?
No, that’s not bringing justice to Ms. Noble’s daughter, is to call her a white supremacist and say that she believes in economically exploiting people.
No, that’s not—
You are attributing a statement to me that I did not make.
Witness: Yes, sir, you did. It’s on your website.
Chair: Time has expired. Senator, I think it’s inappropriate to call people liars in this hearing. I hope that would be very careful. The witnesses are under oath, and to say that they are lying is to accuse them of something close to a crime, and I think that term should be carefully used.
Kennedy: Can I respond to that, Mr. Chairman?
Chairman: When you get your turn. I’m going to recognize Senator Blackburn because I should have recognized her before you, and she has to go, and we have several others waiting. Senator Blackburn.
https://www.facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/464267206061001
Kennedy to Wong: strategically push ICE out of our communities, system must be dismantled