Klobuchar Remarks at Spotlight Forum on Use of Force by ICE

WATCH KLOBUCHAR'S FULL REMARKS HERE

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) gave the following remarks at a spotlight forum on the use of force by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents.

The forum included opening statements by Brent and Luke Granger, the brothers of Renee Good, as well as testimony from Aliya Raham, a U.S. citizen and Minneapolis resident who was dragged out of her car and detained by ICE on her way to a doctor's appointment, and Anthony Romanucci, the attorney for Renee Good's family.

Klobuchar's full remarks and questions are below, and the video can be found here. The opening statements from Brent and Luke Granger are linked here.

Senator Klobuchar: Thank you. I want to thank Brent and Luke for their powerful testimony earlier and for being with us to honor the memory of their sister and my constituent, Renee Good. Senator Smith and I had the privilege to meet with them ahead of time. I also want to thank you, Ms. Rahman, for coming forward in the hardest of circumstances to tell your story, despite the claims that ICE's focus is to go after the worst of the worst, the most violent offenders. In fact, they went after you when you were on your way to a doctor's appointment.

Our state is, once again, the center of America's heartbreak, but I hope my colleagues see that we're also the center of America's courage and hope. Courage and hope when 50,000 people march peacefully in below-zero weather. Courage and hope when neighbors are helping neighbors and people they've ever even met. And courage and hope when you, Ms. Rahman, are willing to come forward, and Renee's brothers are willing to testify in her memory. So I had seen the video, Ms. Rahman, of what happened to you, but hearing your story is even more chilling. Can you talk about the chaos in the moment as you're just driving to a doctor's appointment that made it hard for you, or really any other person, to figure out what to do?

Aliya Rahman: Yes, there are no signs. There is no sign of the skill that elementary crossing guards have. There is no single person giving instructions. Inside the Whipple center, it is like that also, and I have an auditory processing challenge that means multiple voices sound like they're at the same volume. I did comply with at least one of those people.

Klobuchar: Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. And I think when you listen to the professor talk about right policing and how it's supposed to work, or our Minneapolis Police Chief, O'Hara, who's been very outspoken on this, part of the problem is you have these people that are not police officers in our state. They're not following the rules of conduct, and you were a victim of that.

Mr. Romanucci, I know you're representing Ms. Good's family, but I'm sure you've also heard through your firm, other constitutional violations. I just use examples that may not be your clients, but the two-year-old deported that my office worked on in the middle of the night to get this little girl back, the five-year-old Liam, who was brought back. And people were very happy about that, with his little blue hat with the ears and his Spider-Man backpack. And we just found out today that the Deputy Attorney General has announced that they're appealing that ruling out of Texas. The Hmong elder, who was pulled out in his underwear when they figured out they had the wrong guy, and he was driven around for an hour, and then they realized the guy that they were trying to get was already in jail - publicly available information had been for years. Can you talk about the repeated constitutional violations happening in my home state?

Anthony Romanucci: Madam, Senator Klobuchar, we see this routinely. It's cringeworthy to watch the video every day on the news and to see what is happening in Minneapolis to American citizens who are having their rights violated consistently, routinely. It sounds like a school yard when you're saying constitutional violation: First Amendment, Second Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Tenth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment. It's like we're reciting something. It is consistent, it's routine, and it must be stopped. There needs to be accountability. Without accountability, we will continue this day in and day out until law enforcement officers are able to be held accountable.

Klobuchar: And speaking of that, how does the Trump administration's refusal to cooperate with our state attorney general's office, Keith Ellison, our local authorities, refusing to have the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigate your client's, families', loved ones' case, interfere with holding people accountable?

Romanucci: Well, it absolutely starts with the false narrative that officers, law enforcement officers, have absolute immunity, because that gives them the right to think they have absolute impunity, and without any significant parallel investigation or cooperative investigation, there cannot be accountability either on the civil side, administrative side, and certainly there's going to be compromise then on the civil side, without meaningful, transparent, real investigation.

Klobuchar: Thank you.

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