An angry Democrat dared the Trump administration to look the children of men killed by immigration officers in the eye — but suggested they might be too scared.
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) slammed the Trump administration for failing to attend a public hearing on deaths caused by its Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — and called out his suspected reason why.
"They're afraid, he said. "They are scared."
Walkinshaw appeared on MS NOW Saturday morning to address what "The Weekend" host Eugene Daniels described as the "lying" and "untruths" about how two fatal ICE shootings "went down."
Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was killed in Maine on July 13 — just days after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot dead in Texas, reports show.
The Virginia Democrat had recently returned from Houston, where Araujo, 52, was killed by ICE and falsely accused by the FBI of possessing illegal drugs.
As U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) confirmed Friday, the construction worker had electrolytes to help him keep hydrated.
Walkinshaw felt compelled to go to Houston that same day, he said.
"I wanted to... be able to look into their eyes and see and feel that that pain that they're experiencing," said Walkinshaw. "And bring it back with me to Washington and try to communicate it to my colleagues, especially our Republican colleagues."
But Walkinshaw argued Republicans would rather "pour salt in the wounds" of families whose loved ones have died in ICE's hands, pointing to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two American citizens shot dead in protests, as proof.
"It is disgusting what this administration is doing to families like this," he said. "It's character assassination."
Walkinshaw then shared information from a closed-door briefing he held with ICE officials last week.
Data show that out of 22,000 ICE officers, just one has faced disciplinary action.
"There is no accountability in ICE right now," he said. "And it comes from the very top. In the Oval Office."
This is why Walkinshaw professed himself outraged the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI "flat out refused" to send a representative to Friday's public hearing.
Walkinshaw argued they didn't have the guts to face the children of the men ICE agents had killed.
"They are afraid to to face communities like the community in Houston," he said. "After what has happened, I don't think they want to have to look Lorenzo and Ronaldo in the eye and see what they have done."