NDLON’s Chris Newman Defends Immigrants As Republicans’ Dehumanizing Lies Backfire at Congressional Hearing

Washington, June 9—Chris Newman, Legal Director and General Counsel, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), testified before Congress this morning, addressing a hearing of the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses.

Speaking directly to the Republicans who were there to highlight MAGA lies and talking points about “illegal aliens,” border enforcement and “chaos,” Newman invoked humanity and justice instead. 

“The enforcement that we have seen has been the true cause of chaos,” Newman said, “fomenting violence and delegitimizing the rule of law.”

He praised the “bottom-up wave of unity and peaceful protest” that has spread from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to New Jersey:

“Ordinary people standing in public squares, defending each other and their shared values, have shown more courage than this institution has shown in a generation.

“The people at the center of the debate today — the people who I have the privilege of working for—to borrow from one of the greatest bands in American history, Los Tigres del Norte, are more American than many of the detractors that hurl epithets at them.

“They are not abstractions. They are not chaos.”

The hearing’s main target was the long-established humanitarian program called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which has given safe haven in the U.S. to immigrants from dangerous, war-torn and disaster-stricken countries since the 1990’s.

Newman, who has more than two decades’ experience in defending day laborers’ constitutional rights, was joined by a fellow witness, David Bier of the Cato Institute, in repeatedly explaining to the task force Republicans how the constitutional violations and “institutional abuses” were coming from their side – from the Trump Administration’s violent, chaotic enforcement and the Congress that funds it – not from people fleeing violence and building lives in the United States.

Bier pointed out that everyone shared a common interest in protecting public safety and justly enforcing the law.  But the Republicans weren’t having it.

The following is a quote from Chris Newman:

“I came to Washington today to find common ground. I urged the task force to reject violence and defend the rule of law and to do their jobs. I called on them to stop weaponizing immigration and to support immigrants – including the immigrants who are working toward full inclusion in our society. They are Americans-in-waiting. Their love of country, liberty and family is deeply American. They deserve our respect, admiration and support. Their struggle continues, and I’m honored to belong to an organization, NDLON, that supports and defends those whose work for rights and justice benefits us all. Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo.”

Video of the hearing, with Chris Newman’s testimony, can be viewed here.

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