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all participants.
Now I will hand it over to Senator
Baldwin to make some remarks.
Senator.
Thank you. Good afternoon and
I want to thank you for joining us
and I hope you and your loved ones
are staying safe and warm during
this cold front that we're
experiencing.
We're here today to talk about what
we are all watching happen in
American cities.
This latest tragedy in the
Twin Cities hits extremely
close to home for us.
Alex Petrie, who was killed
by ice, was one of us.
Alex grew up in Wisconsin,
and over
the past few days, I've been
working to learn more about
Alex, the life he
lived, the impact he
had.
And like most of the Wisconsinites
I know, Alex was
someone who went out of his way
to help others,
a role model to many and
kind to everyone.
We were hearing from heartbroken
coworkers former
classmates at Preble High
School in Green Bay,
and the families of veterans he
cared for.
As an ICU nurse,
he undoubtedly cared for Wisconsin
veterans who crossed the
border from Western Wisconsin to get
their care at the Minneapolis
VA Hospital.
Matt Randolph described
Alex, who cared for his father
in his final days at
the VA, as just
the sweetest person you could
imagine.
Alex's friends from school
and choir programs described
him as one of those kids
who was liked by everybody
and a
confident, diligent, and
respectful person.
As one classmate told the
New York Times, we just
really wanted to be like him
because he was cool without
trying. And as an
adult...
I realize it's because he
was kind to everyone.
As many people have now seen,
Alex's last act
was an act of service,
shielding a neighbor who had been
thrown into a snowbank.
I want to start where I hope all
Americans are when they see this,
and that is heartbroken.
Alex should still be alive
today.
And I send my deepest condolences
to his parents, his
loved ones, and everybody
grieving his loss.
Alex's death was entirely
preventable, and
Americans all have been able to
see that clearly for themselves.
We watched as ICE agents
shot Alex 10
times, even
as Alex laid motionless on
the ground.
He was not brandishing
his weapon.
He was holding his phone
to document what
was happening to him and
to his community.
No matter your politics,
what we witnessed this weekend was
horrifying.
But it wasn't just horrifying, it
was predictable.
We've warned this president for
weeks and weeks that sending
thousands of masked,
armed, and untrained
ICE agents and border patrol
into Minneapolis
would only create chaos
and make everyone less safe.
The Trump administration ignored us,
convinced that the show of
force against our neighbors would
score them political points.
This violence was predictable,
and so was the response
that we heard from the White House.
Instead of lowering the temperature
and simply calling for an
investigation,
Secretary of Homeland Security
Kristi Noem threw gas
on the fire and lied
to the American people.
Without evidence,
she called Alex Preti,
an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis
VA, a domestic terrorist.
She jumped to a conclusion
that fit neatly into
the president's narrative.
Just like she did
with Renee Goode,
before we even had all
the facts.
Secretary Noem is asking
everyone not to believe their
own eyes, and Wisconsinites
are smarter than that.
To make matters worse,
Kristi Noem and ICE are
blocking the local police
from even conducting a
real independent
investigation.
We saw what happened in Minnesota
this weekend and we have seen what
the Trump administration has been
doing for months.
ICE agents are arresting,
detaining and even killing
American citizens.
Mass agents are ambushing
churches, small businesses
and families at their schools
pick up.
Border Patrol is profiling
Americans based on race
and asking and
acting.
As if they are above
the law.
The vice president even said
they have, and I quote,
absolute immunity.
This is not what Wisconsinites want.
Just like the overwhelming
majority of my constituents,
I support targeted immigration
enforcement that goes after hardened
criminals.
That is far from what President
Trump and Kristi Noem are doing.
They're using thousands of
masked agents to act lawlessly,
infringe on Americans' rights,
and intimidate American citizens
and communities.
There are a few things that
need to happen moving forward.
There must be an independent,
thorough investigation into the
killing of Renee Good and
Alex Preti.
Like has always happened prior,
local law enforcement must be
included, and this
cannot be swept under the rug.
But that's not enough.
Next, Congress needs to act
right now.
This week, Congress has
government funding bills in
front of us, including
funding for the Department of
Homeland Security.
I've made it clear to my
colleagues I will not
support a bill to
fund the Department of Homeland
Security and ICE unless
it adds some serious accountability
and reigns in
this chaos.
I refuse to give ICE and
DHS a blank
check to keep acting
lawlessly, putting Americans'
lives at risk, and
making our communities less
safe.
And it's now up to my Republican
colleagues to decide
if they are willing to endorse this
lawless behavior of the
Trump administration or to
stand with Americans.
Finally, we need some
accountability at the Department of
Homeland Security.
And that starts with Christie
Noem.
Christie Noam has overseen
the killing of two
Americans in Minneapolis.
That's two out of the three
homicides in the
city this year.
She's blatantly lied
to the American people,
telling them not to believe their
own eyes.
She's overseeing total
and utter chaos
in our country, putting more
American lives at risk every
day. And that is why she
has to go.
She needs to be fired.
Or she should resign.
ICE is simply out of control,
and this chaos has to stop.
And the president needs to pull
these armed masked
agents out of Minnesota before
someone else gets her.
I'll close with this.
Alex should still be here.
And my heart breaks for his
family, his loved ones,
state of Minnesota.
And the Green Bay community
grieving his loss.
I will do everything I can to
help get justice for Alex and
ensure that this does not happen to
anyone else's child.
Thank you and I'll be happy to
take your questions.
Thank you, Senator Baldwin.
Just a reminder, that question
should be submitted to the chat Q&A
function.
We will get to as many on topic
questions as we can with Senator
Baldwin, if you have any follow up
questions, please direct them to our
office via email afterwards.
And we already have a few coming in,
so we'll start with this one.
Are you willing to risk another
potential government shutdown in
order to push for new restrictions
on ICE slash Border Patrol
in order to rein them in?
As I've just said,
ICE is out of
control, and they are
wreaking havoc on
American communities, including
Minneapolis-St.
Paul.
The question is,
are my Republican colleagues
gonna just look the other way,
or are they going to join us
in adding accountability
measures that rein
in ICE?
It's as simple as that.
We have two choices.
We can either move forward and
add accountability, strong
accountability measures to
the homeland security.
Or they can opt to
not do so and thwart
the will of the American people.
And I might add that
we have had an
overwhelming response
from Wisconsinites.
These are people who have emailed
me, who have called me.
We've never had in about
48 hours as many
calls and
communications as we've had.
People want action, I
intend to take that action, and I
call on my Republican colleagues
to join us.
Thank you, Senator.
Another question.
You have said you won't support
funding for DHS without
clear accountability and stronger
controls. What changes need to be
made to get you on board?
Look, there are a lot of changes
that need to be made.
And again, just look at what you've
been seeing with your own eyes
happening in
Minneapolis and St. Paul.
You have 3,000
ICE agents who are
wearing masks, are
heavily armed, are
often driving unmarked cars,
are not showing identification,
do not have body cameras.
And are
not being investigated
when they break the law.
So I can give you
a lot of things that need
to happen. And these are common
sense. And these aren't the very
things that Wisconsinites are
calling in to me and saying,
why aren't they wearing body
cameras?
Why do they have masks on
to obscure their identity?
Why aren't, you
know, wearing badges
like local law enforcement
would wear.
These are the type of
things that need to happen.
They should not, there should not be
masked, armed,
untrained, ill-trained
federal agents roaming American
cities, residential neighborhoods,
schools, places of worship.
And you know what?
The other thing that I want to
emphasize is accountability.
There needs to be independent
investigations.
You can't sweep this under the
rug and say that the very
agency whose agent is
accused of homicide
is going to do the full
investigation and
bar local and
state law enforcement and
prosecutors from having access
to the evidence.
So yes, we
have to add a
number of provisions to
this.
Department of Homeland Security bill
that funds ICE so
that there is accountability and
reform and training.
Thank you, Senator.
Next question.
How should the administration
respond to the shooting of Alex
Preti moving forward?
The administration first should
fire Christy Noem
or demand that
she resign.
The administration also
needs to not only
withdraw this
massive deployment
of federal
agents to
the city of Minneapolis,
St. Paul, but they should never be
surging.
Federal agents if
not without
the request of
the governor or a
local mayor who
says that they need it.
There's so much the Trump
administration should be doing
among them demanding
that an investigation that
is thorough and
independent happen whenever
there is an accusation.
Of whether it's homicide
or injury or
illegal behavior on
the part of one of their
federal agents.
And that independent investigation
has to be with the
inclusion of state
and or local
law enforcement.
They can't investigate themselves.
And that's sort of the beginning of
the list of what President Donald
Trump can do.
To de-escalate
here and
put
an end to this chaos that is making
our communities far less safe,
Not more.
Great, thank you, Senator.
And then next question
we have is,
sorry, just going through them here.
Yep, so next question we have
is, do you think Kristi Noem should
be impeached?
I've already talked about
the fact that she has overseen
an agency that
has been responsible
for two out of the three
homicides in the city this
year.
She has lied
to the American public
about what we've
seen with our very own eyes,
creating a narrative to her liking.
But not reflecting the truth.
If those are not things
that should be subject to
impeachment, I don't know what
are.
She should be fired.
She should resign.
She has got to go.
And if impeachment is the way to do
it, I'd support it.
Great. Thank you.
And we just have time for one more
question. So we'll end with this
one. Have any of your Republican
colleagues voice support for you
and other Democrats privately?
Well, both privately and publicly,
we have seen too few of
them stand up.
But I will say the
call for
some oversight.
Is welcome news.
It's not enough at this moment.
And I've heard from far
too many of my Republican
colleagues, some
privately, some publicly, who just
said, Well, I'm not following it
closely or.
No, I haven't seen the videos
and that is irresponsible
in my mind.
The bottom line
is that this should be such an easy
choice in the Senate.
This week.
We have a series of bills that
fund agencies of government.
One of them is the department
that funds ice.
We are asking for
accountability guardrails.
And an end to this chaos.
And the overwhelming sentiment
of the American people right now is
that's what needs to happen.
And I ask my Republican colleagues,
don't ignore those voices.
Stand with us,
enact these common sense
accountability measures,
and let's get on with passing
these bills.
Great. Thank you, Senator Baldwin,
and thank you to all of the press
for joining today's call.
We have recorded it, and we will
send you the recording shortly after
we wrap today.
Thanks, everyone, and have a good
afternoon.