During a hearing this Wednesday of the House Committee on Homeland Security, panel member Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) began raising her voice within about 20 seconds once she had her turn. She quickly returned to the aggression, flatly misrepresenting a startling array of basic facts around the southern U.S. border.
In short, it is simply not correct that Democrats in the Biden administration and Congress are pushing towards some kind of abandonment of immigration law and protections for vulnerable migrants.
“Republicans are committed to securing our border, Mr. Chairman,” Greene said. “And firing the people whose failed policies are killing Americans every single day. I want to remind everyone. We serve the United States of American citizens — not the rest of the world. That needs to be made clear. You need to remember your oath of office, people.”
Greene subsequently engaged with one of the witnesses, a woman whose son evidently died from fentanyl. This witness, Sandy Snodgrass, insisted on taking what she called a “war” to the source of the conflict, meaning foreign criminal organizations propagating the drug trade. Snodgrass is a private citizen, and such individuals, of course, enjoy the right to free speech under U.S. laws. Greene, however, heartily agreed with the line of commentary from the witness — though she’d in fact already endorsed the idea of what would effectively be military action involving Mexican territory.
In later commentary, Greene disputed the idea that family separations targeting migrants arriving to the U.S. had even ever happened, which seems like a new one in conspiracy theory terms. She described what occurred as just protective measures oriented around children — again utilizing real-world problems faced by vulnerable communities and individuals for her fundamentally political aims of boosting the public image for former President Donald Trump. Greene later agreed with a different witness who, not actually serving in any law enforcement capacity at all, claimed that border enforcement agents were effectively blocked from carrying out certain basic laws they were supposed to be overseeing. Officials involved in border security have repeatedly attested this characterization is false.
