Amid President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown, one congressional Democrat is calling for reparations for foreign nationals who are affected.
“We are going to have some form of reparation for the kids and the families that have been traumatized through all of this,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Friday during a congressional hearing, referring to illegal immigrants. “You talked about how there’s no support for people even once they’re released. We need to make sure that we are funding that kind of work to continue to provide relief.”
Jayapal, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), made the comments during the seventh installment of a hearing series titled “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Attack on Children.”
The left-wing lawmaker said reparations for illegal immigrants affected by Trump’s crackdown efforts would be just one item in a series of reforms she would push Democrats to pursue if they retake House control in November.
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Jayapal, who was born in India and became a U.S. citizen in 2000, also said she wants “offensive action” regarding those who are carrying out Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.
“We need real accountability, because at the end of the day, the people that have been inflicting this harm need to be prosecuted,” Jayapal said. “They need to be brought before us, and they need to be held to account for the trauma that they have created.”
A spokesperson for Jayapal did not respond to a Fox Digital inquiry about who specifically she wants to see prosecuted or who would be eligible for reparations.
Reparations refer to financial compensation for a specific group intended to address reputed economic harms. Many progressive Democrats have long advocated for reparations for the descendants of American slaves.
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Throughout the hearing, congressional Democrats repeatedly called attention to the children of deported illegal immigrants, while saying little about the victims of illegal immigrant crime.
The group of Democratic lawmakers did not discuss 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, who was allegedly shot and killed by a Venezuelan national illegally living in the United States in Chicago earlier this month.
Jayapal’s comments came during the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has continued to drag on with no end in sight.
She and nearly all House Democrats have refused to fund the department until the Trump administration agrees to various proposals that could rein in immigration enforcement.
“I have been clear since the start of the appropriations process: I will not vote to give Trump’s ICE or CBP another cent without major reforms,” Jayapal said Friday following her vote against a two-month DHS funding extension.
Though Democrats have been willing to fund the non-immigration parts of DHS, most Republicans have rejected that idea because it would effectively defund law enforcement.
Zeroing out appropriations for ICE and the Border Patrol would continue to force support staff employed by those agencies — have not received a full paycheck during the seven-week funding lapse — to keep working without pay.