Illegal Immigrants Are My Constituents, California Democrat Says

Rep. Norma Torres said at a Wednesday press conference that every taxpayer in her district—including illegal immigrants—is her constituent. 

Torres, D-Calif., held the event to promote her Fairness to Freedom Act, which would require the government to pay for the legal defense of any immigrant facing deportation who cannot afford counsel.

“Everyone living in my district is my constituent, and I am there to serve and be a public servant for them,” Torres said when asked by The Daily Signal whether she considers immigrants without legal status to be among her constituents.

“Everyone who pays taxes is a constituent of all members of Congress, including immigrants who have filed for a tax ID and are denied any benefits,” she added.

In the midst of the recent controversy over Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national deported from Maryland to an El Salvador prison, White House adviser Stephen Miller said that Van Hollen was confused about Abrego Garcia's status.

“Senator Van Hollen seems to be under the very confused impression that this MS-13 terrorist is his constituent,” Miller said on Fox at the time. 

“He is [Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s] constituent. … He is President Bukele’s resident. He is not a ‘Maryland man’ … . He is an illegal alien from El Salvador.”

At the press conference, Torres laid out her legislation as a way to prevent deportations.

“We all know that the system is designed to leave people in the dark without legal support so they can be railroaded through the system and taken out of our country,” she said. 

“But the Fairness to Freedom Act says, ‘Enough is enough’—if a detainee doesn’t get counseled in time, the deportation proceedings must be terminated with prejudice.”

Torres was joined by fellow Democrat Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

Jayapal boasted that they were “three of the less than two dozen naturalized citizens to serve in the United States Congress … and so we know how tough the system is to navigate.”

Jayapal also mentioned that “decades of research clearly shows that immigrants with representation are 10 times more likely to obtain relief from deportation … and detained immigrants with representation are three-and-a-half times more likely to be granted bond, enabling their release.”

But Garcia and Torres both voted against the Laken Riley Act in January, which requires that illegal immigrants charged with theft or violent crimes be detained. Jayapal did not vote on the legislation, which was named after a Georgia nursing student slain by an illegal alien. It passed the House on Jan. 22, two days after it passed the Senate, in both cases with large bipartisan majorities. On Jan. 29, it became the first bill signed into law by President Donald Trump at the start of his second term.

Torres, Garcia, and Jayapal all voted against the SAVE Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. That bill passed the House 220-208 on April 10, with just four Democrats voting in favor. It has yet to receive a vote in the Senate.