AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

President Trump has deployed more U.S. troops against immigrant rights protests in Los Angeles than are currently in Syria and Iraq, according to recent Pentagon figures. But the protests continue and are expanding, like in Chicago, where thousands marched in the streets this week.

PROTESTERS: Why are you in riot gear? Why are you in riot gear? Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets? Our streets! Our streets! Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets?

AMY GOODMAN: Chicago is one of five Democratic cities where Trump has announced he’ll be sending armed ICE tactical teams.

Today, a federal judge will hear California’s request to limit the activities of the National Guard and Marines deployed by Trump to Los Angeles to just guarding federal buildings. National Guard troops have also been involved in detaining civilians and have been accompanying immigration agents on their L.A. raids, provoking fear and chaos across the city. We’re going to talk about that in just a minute, about the community-led protests continuing for a sixth day in downtown L.A., which saw a curfew for a second night.

For more, we continue with the Chicago Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez. She’s the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, recently questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a congressional hearing.

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: Your department is out of control, but you, you’re responsible. You have betrayed the sacred fundamentals of your oath. And I believe to my core that you are not fit to hold the office. And I again, to your face, demand your immediate resignation, and I put it and place it on the record.

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, that’s Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Congressmember, thank you for staying with us, as you stand with us from the Capitol Rotunda. If you can talk about your response to President Trump escalating? We’ve seen what’s happened on the streets of L.A., where he sent out thousands of troops, National Guard, hundreds of Marines. Now he’s expanding to five more cities, apparently. One of them is yours, Chicago, where he’s sending out tactical ICE teams, and thousands of protesters have already begun protesting this week in your city. First, do you know what these tactical ICE teams are? Respond to what President Trump is doing.

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: Amy, what you are seeing is the beginning of fascism, point blank. He is sending the military to the cities that would dare to have dissent and resistance to what you are seeing — mass deportations, the robbing of mothers from their children. And he is intentionally going to the cities where we know people are organizing and saying, “Enough is enough. You don’t get to trick mothers into text messages just to arrest them, throw them into freight elevators and shove them into vans, as masked agents take them and take them away from their family.” What he is about is control, suppressing dissent in order to dismantle resistance. The threats of sending these special ICE teams to Chicago, to Seattle and other cities is about making sure that he can dismantle any organizing.

But let’s make sure we don’t lose the plot here. The aggressor in this country is Donald Trump. Who we should be holding accountable are not people who are protesting the taking, the kidnapping, the abducting of their family; is the aggressor that serves as the United States president. And we have to understand what it is, because it’s all interconnected. He, Bukele, Bibi Netanyahu want to rob us from our lives, want to suppress any dissent, because they want our land. They want white supremacy to rule our countries. They want to rob us from our resources. And anyone who is willing to speak up, they are going to militarize to silence us.

Everyone should be really worried. But at the same time, Amy, we cannot allow these fear tactics to win, which is why we cannot concede the power. Chicago is not going to stop protesting. We’re going to continue to show up in the streets. We’re going to monitor what is happening. And we’re going to take a stand for our immigrant brothers and sisters.

AMY GOODMAN: Chicago is a sanctuary city. What does that mean?

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: It means that in the city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois, that local police does not help ICE agents harm, abduct, remove people. It means that people in Chicago are not going to be arrested for being undocumented. Immigrants are able to work, to shop, to go to church, without the fear that the moment they leave their home, they will be abducted by a government who has refused to actually address the issues of immigration. And so, as long as we have the leadership we have, as long as our community continues to stay out there, vigilant, building community, protesting the abductions, we will continue to be a sanctuary state.

AMY GOODMAN: What news do you have on ICE detaining children, separating families in broad daylight, arresting immigrants at their jobs, court hearings, terrorizing entire communities, also endangering everyone? Because — 

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: That’s right.

AMY GOODMAN: — when people are afraid to go to a health clinic, this is a problem for everyone.

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: That’s right.

AMY GOODMAN: When people don’t go to work, this is also a problem for their employers. Can you talk about how this cuts, the response, across the political spectrum?

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: Amy, it destabilizes everything. It destabilizes our schools when kids are not going to school, either themselves out of fear that when they come back, mom went to that court follow-up visit, but then was detained, or mom worried that if she sends her child, ICE agents will present themselves and bully themselves through, and if the superintendent doesn’t have the resources or the ability to stop them, they will take that child. We’re talking about 4-year-old children who are United States citizens deported during cancer treatment. We are talking about employers, Home Depots, wholesale shoppers, communities across the country who are living in fear that anyone could be taken.

These ICE agents don’t know due process. They’re not trained to understand how to be able to abide by the law, because the president and Secretary Noem are telling them, “Forget the laws. There is no rule of law when it comes to immigrants.” So they’re detaining U.S. citizens. Anyone who dares to dissent in this moment, they’re sending the military to silence them.

What is happening around the country should worry every one of us, because here’s the other thing, Amy, let’s be very clear: For fascists, they select a public enemy. And today, it’s an immigrant. Tomorrow, literally tomorrow, it’s anyone they find undesirable. I have members of Congress in my committee who are filing legislation saying anyone who attempts to obstruct Donald Trump from doing what he wants should have their U.S. citizenship revoked if they’re a United States citizen. All of us should be worried. It’s destabilizing economies, destabilizing schools, people who are not going to the hospital and dying from fear of being deported in a hospital itself.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember, you are the only congressmember to say that your husband was undocumented when you became a member of Congress. He is a recipient now of DACA. If you can talk about whether you are concerned that, with you being so outspoken, you, your family, your husband will be targeted?

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: Yeah. What you saw was LaMonica McIver attempting to provide oversight of the detention center, and then now they are going as far as not just charges — right? — indicting her for doing her job. This government does not want people like me, like LaMonica or anyone to actually hold them accountable. Of course there are concerns there. And of course a number of us are asking ourselves: What are the safety plans we have to have in place?

But I am not going to concede the power of the people. I will do what I need to do to protect my family, but I’m going to continue to fight this fascist government, who attempts to silence people like me, people like LaMonica McIver, members of Congress whose responsibility is to assert oversight in this moment. It’s why we should be at these detention centers. It’s why we should continue to support folks that are marching in these nonviolent marches. They will attempt to say that — all sorts of things, that we’re inciting violence. Donald Trump incited violence here in this building on January 6th. He is the aggressor. He is who should be accountable.

AMY GOODMAN: And, of course, you’re talking about the New Jersey Congressmember McIver, who wrapped her arms around the Newark mayor, Ras Baraka, as they were arresting him, although they’ve dropped the charges against him. I wanted to go to a different subject as we wrap up this discussion. The House is expected to vote today to allow the White House to claw back $9.4 billion already appropriated by Congress, including $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to PBS and NPR. NPR describes the proposal as the most serious threat ever faced by public broadcasting since CPB was established in the 1960s under President Lyndon Johnson. Your response?

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: It is the biggest serious threat to National Public Broadcasting. It is what authoritarians do when they don’t want people to report of what’s happening on the ground. We should all be worried. Every single Democrat, but Republicans who want to uphold our Constitution, our democracy, should be voting against this rescission bill. It is dangerous. We have arrived to a moment that if we don’t organize ourselves together and say, “Enough is enough,” I don’t know how we turn back from it. It is absolutely dangerous. And, Amy, everyone should be calling their member of Congress and demanding that they vote no on this rescission bill.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, will you be protesting on Saturday? Will you be part of the No Kings protest as President Trump celebrates his 79th birthday with a, the estimates are, something like $46 million military parade, with Abrams tanks rolling through the streets of the capital, where you work?

REP. DELIA RAMIREZ: Amy, we’re hearing it’s closer to $100 million now. He wants to waste $100 million of your taxpayer dollars while cutting Medicaid at the same time. I will be protesting in many ways. There are local things happening in my own district. I will be standing up with people, and I will make sure that our immigrants know that I am standing with them today, every single day.

AMY GOODMAN: Congressmember Delia Ramirez, Democratic congressmember from Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants.

Next up, to Los Angeles. What is a day in the life of an immigrant worker in Los Angeles like as troops flood the streets? More than 300 immigrants have been arrested just in the last week in L.A. alone. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Hungry Ghost” by Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff in our Democracy Now! studio.