Kamlager-Dove Slams Judiciary Republicans on Response to Murder of Renee Good 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- During today's House Judiciary Committee markup, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) slammed Judiciary Committee Republicans on their response to the horrific ICE-involved shooting that killed a U.S. citizen in Minnesota. Full remarks are below and video footage is available here.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, there's great irony in the title of this bill, Keep Violent Offenders Off Our Streets. I've listened to a number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle reference Ms. Renee Good, saying they don't know if she posed a threat. We don't know what she was thinking. 

And the fact is we'll never know because she's dead. Because she was killed. Because she was murdered. And an ICE agent did not use de-escalation tactics. The ICE agent killed a prospective defendant, if you wanna talk about bail. And she won't even get that because she is dead. 

I think it is wrong to have colleagues say, "Let's not talk about this until you decide it's time for us to talk about it." This body is not a jury, but we make determinations all the time in this committee, and we are a jurisdiction of oversight. So at the very least, we should be demanding that the committee do the job of oversight and talk about this case. Use this as an opportunity to debate how our taxpayer dollars are being used, how our government agents are being used, how they are treating our constituents.

You know, Kash Patel didn't know who Dylann Roof was. That's right. But I do. He killed nine parishioners in cold blood. You know what? Law enforcement agents didn't roll up in that church and kill him. They used de-escalation tactics. 

So let's talk about that. You know, I have sat on these kinds of committees before when I was in the state legislature, and I was watching that video of what happened to Ms. Good, and I was triggered all over again. As a Black woman with a Black husband with Black children, 
I have different kinds of conversations than many on this dais about how we have to take extra precautions. And I am a member of Congress. 

It is a fact that I have to take extra precautions in my family to make sure that my husband and my sons are not killed by law enforcement because of the color of their skin. And you know what that video showed us? Is that all Americans now have to take separate and extra precautions. I thought the mandate for ICE was that they were gonna go after criminals that are here illegally, creating crimes. That's the mandate.

Ms. Good was here legally, and maybe her crime was she was afraid of being shot. And that's exactly what happened. She was not here illegally, and she was not involved in criminal behavior. 

And if you all wanna say or continue to say that if you obey then you will not be shot. Don't disagree with law enforcement, do what law enforcement says. January 6th happened and there were a whole bunch of people who rolled up at the Capitol and were disobeying the Capitol Police, who are law enforcement. 

And they were arrested. And you know what? The President of the United States said, "I'm gonna pardon you. It is okay for you to disobey law enforcement. It is okay for you to attack law enforcement."

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