350.org Responds to Extreme U.S. Government Overreach Amidst Mass Mobilizations
United States (National) — This afternoon, California’s Junior Senator, Alex Padilla, was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference simply for asking a question. For almost a week, people in Los Angeles and across the U.S. have been facing similar hostility as they’ve sought to protect their neighbors from brutal attacks and kidnappings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. At the same time, the U.S. government is trying to pass a budget bill with sweeping cuts to government agencies and social programs.
JL Andrepont, 350.org Senior Policy Analyst, responds:
“The White House is spending an estimated $134 million to send the military to pelt its own country’s people with rubber bullets. Trump is spending another $45 million to send tanks down D.C. streets to celebrate his own birthday. Meanwhile, he claims there isn’t money for communities devastated by climate disasters, life-saving medical care, or food for our most vulnerable kids (SNAP). No wonder communities are rising up across the nation to defend their neighbors and democracy, asserting ‘NO KINGS.’ Further illustrating this hypocrisy and dictatorial repression, Senator Alex Padilla was thrown to the ground and handcuffed for daring to ask the DHS head to explain L.A.’s hyper-militarized ICE raids. We are seeing extreme government overreach that puts everyone in the U.S. at risk of losing their constitutional rights. There is no climate justice without migrant justice, and there is no climate justice under authoritarianism.”