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Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) took to social media on Monday to debunk President Donald Trump's "wild claims and lies" about asylum-seekers at the southern border.
The congresswoman's morning Twitter thread comes as another Democrat--California Gov. Gavin Newsom--refuses to be part of Trump's "political theater" and is set to order the withdrawal of the majority of the state's National Guard troops now at the border.
Japaypal, referencing data on the number of people being processed under the current administration, suggests, "Trump doesn't want asylum seekers processed anywhere."
\u201cTHREAD: Let's break down wild claims & lies of Trump & GOP around "surge" of migrants & therefore their demand for more money for processing of these migrants at the border. This piece (https://t.co/R5fcqcGxn9) from libertarian @CatoInstitute does it. Ready? Here we go. (1)\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
\u201c(2) In Dec '18, DHS Sec. Nielsen testified that border ports had reached "capacity," & couldn't process asylum seekers--as a result, they "limited" asylum processing.\nBUT govt data shows those same ports admitted 2x as many undoc immigrants in Oct 2016 as they did in Dec 2018.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
\u201c(3) In fact, undocumented arrivals at border actually FELL 9% from Oct 2016 to Dec 2018.\n\nYET, @DHSgov halved the shared of migrants processed from 32% to 16%.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
\u201c(4) DHS Inspector Gen said the processing limit could've INCREASED # of people who come ILLEGALLY, writing that it \u201csaw evidence that limiting volume of asylum-seekers entering at ports of entry leads some aliens who would otherwise seek legal entry to cross border illegally.\u201d\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
\u201c(5) Trump claims a record number of families & children now.\n\nBUT the number of families & children is down 43% from Oct. 2016 to Dec. 2018.\n\nYET detention beds went UP from 34,000 to 45,000 to the current almost 48,000.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
\u201c(6) What a farce Trump's whole "crisis on the border" is. The only crisis is the humanitarian crisis of asylum seekers trying to seek asylum legally--which is their right and our responsibility--and being turned away. Trump doesn't want asylum seekers processed anywhere.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549896945
The Washington Democrat's thread comes days after she lambasted "the horror of family separations that occurred at the border" as she grilled Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker during a congressional hearing on Friday.
While Whitaker at one point falsely claimed there "was no family separation policy," Jayapal said: "So these parents were in your custody, your attorneys are prosecuting them, and your department was not tracking parents who were separated from their children."
"Do you know what kind of damage has been done to children and families across this country? Children who will never get to see their parents again?" Jayapal asked. "Do you understand the magnitude of that?"
\u201cDo you know what kind of damage has been done to children and families across the country? Children who will never get to see their parents again. Do you understand the magnitude of that? This is about more than my passion. This is about the children's future, Mr. Whitaker.\u201d— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@Rep. Pramila Jayapal) 1549658653
Moments into his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker helped set the tone for the hearing by refusing to directly answer questions from Democrats and drew audible gasps when he told committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) that his "five minutes were up."
Nadler called the hearing to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice, which Whitaker has overseen since former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was fired in November. Whitaker agreed to testify at the hearing where Democrats' questioning largely focused on his oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
The acting attorney general first challenged Nadler's line of questioning when the chairman asked whether he had been briefed on Mueller's investigation in December 2018, including just before announcing that he would not recuse himself from the probe. Whitaker demanded to know the "basis" of the question.
"It is our understanding that at least one briefing occurred between your decision not to recuse yourself on December 19 and six days later, Christmas Day," Nadler said.
Whitaker then said he would not answer questions based on representatives' "speculation."
The exchange grew more contentious when Whitaker flatly refused to answer Nadler when he asked whether Whitaker's approval had ever been requested for action by Mueller's probe.
"Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up," Whitaker said. "I'm here voluntarily, I agreed to five-minute rounds."
The remark drew a surprised look from the chairman as well as gasps and laughter from the room.
\u201cJerry Nadler asks Matthew Whitaker if he has ever been asked to approve any request or action to be taken by the Special Counsel.\n\nWhitaker: "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up."\n\nThe response in the room is remarkable. Via CSPAN2\u201d— Kyle Griffin (@Kyle Griffin) 1549639299
On social media, critics expressed shock at Whitaker's conduct, with some asserting that his rebuke of Nadler--like Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's angry testimony before a Senate committee in September--was likely for President Donald Trump's benefit.
The ignorance & lack of respect for a coequal branch of govt is indeed astonishing, & the chairman can make whatever rules he wants in his own hearing.
Let's also remember that like every other cabinet official (& one SupCt Justice), Whitaker is playing to an audience of one. https://t.co/PdDTWr7BJq-- Tamara Cofman Wittes (@tcwittes) February 8, 2019
\u201cWhitaker: "Mr. Chairman, your five-minutes are up."\nThere have been witnesses hauled out of committee rooms in irons for being far less arrogant than that.\u201d— Charles P. Pierce (@Charles P. Pierce) 1549638702
Whitaker continued the tone of his testimony, repeating his challenge of the committee's right to question his actions as head of the Justice Department when her demanded to know if Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was basing a question on "anonymous sources." He then asked whether she was permitted to continue with her questioning despite going over her five-minute limit.
"Mr. Attorney General, we are not joking here and your humor is not acceptable," she said. "You are here because we have a constitutional duty to ask questions and the Congress has the right to establish rules."
\u201cMatt Whitaker is astonishingly disrespectful. He's also way out of his league. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee just put him in his place. \n\n"Mr. Attorney General, we are not joking here and your humor is not acceptable."\u201d— Public Citizen (@Public Citizen) 1549646380
As the hero croons in that classic old musical Brigadoon, what a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in.
But that guy was singing that his mood was almost like being in love. On Thursday night, the mood I was in was almost like being in complete frustration and despair, reeling at the feckless, foolish witlessness of the monumental blockhead we have in the White House. He and his apparatchiks despoil the country and democracy like the Vandals sacked Rome.
During the course of Thursday in Washington -- mind you, this one single day:
Thursday was, as a cabdriver said to me back at the height of the Iranian hostage crisis, a whole lotta chaotic. Yet this seems much, much worse than that disaster. This is a Perfect Storm of ineptitude and malice that is truly frightening. All the grownups have now left the building.
In the wake of the day's craziness, the Dow closed down 464 points. The market, it's said, is headed for the worst December since the Great Depression. But intractable in his ignorance, Trump may go on in this shambles of a presidency for at least another 25 months, unless before its official end, he destroys us all.
Mueller will issue his final report, Democrats with a new House majority will ratchet up investigations and maybe even impeach. A greater scandal could be revealed that might shake even Trump's fanatical supporters to the core. But until the next election rolls around or GOP leadership and Senate Republicans suddenly become patriots, renouncing their putrescent Pied Piper and calling for his impeachment and conviction, resignation or invocation of the 25th Amendment, we are in for it.
It's pouring here in New York as I write this and even more so in Washington. They reported on the news the other night that the capital is having its rainiest year on record. See, a friend of mine said, the heavens weep in shame.
What a day this has been.