The chairwoman of the Los Angeles County GOP, who herself was a legal immigrant, says that pro-sanctuary Democrats in the state are deliberately fostering a “two-tiered” justice system designed to trap Latinos and immigrants in a “permanent underclass.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Roxanne Hoge, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and became a citizen 2000, said that despite Democrats’ claims to be the party of the immigrant, their policies are designed to keep Latinos and immigrants down.
“If you’re a person who pays your taxes, obeys the law, doesn’t throw litter on the street and returns your library books, you’re a chump. Because if you want to start a business the right way, you’re going to be waiting for a couple of years. But if you roll up a grocery cart with a propane tank and some raw chicken on a sidewalk with a homeless person sleeping next to you, the city will give you carte blanche. And that’s the sort of thing that I think leads to the degradation of a once-great city,” she said, adding, “California claims to be for all sorts of employee protections and we’re for the worker, and yet they are also for the unbelievable exploitation of indentured servants.”
“Democrats got really upset when Republicans took away the slaves. They said, ‘Who’s going to pick the cotton?’ And now that the Republicans are saying, ‘Hey, let’s enforce immigration law,’ which is a purview of the federal government, they’re really upset saying, ‘Who’s going to pick our crops and our weed?’” she said.
NEWSOM OFFICE DISMISSES CRIME FEARS, DEFENDS SANCTUARY POLICIES AMID SURGE IN VIOLENCE: ‘FAKE NEWS’
Earlier this month, federal agents conducting an immigration enforcement raid at a state-licensed cannabis facility north of Los Angeles found nine unaccompanied migrant children.
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said the facility was “under investigation for child labor violations.”
He posted a photo to X on Friday afternoon, captioned: “These are the juveniles found in the marijuana facility – almost all unaccompanied, one as young as 14. California are you ready to partner with us to stop child exploitation?”
“This is Newsom’s California,” Scott added.
Hoge told Fox News Digital that “as one myself,” she believes “what’s really important to understand is just how cruel and unfair progressives are to brown people.”
‘NUMBERS DON’T LIE’: FORMER JUDGE SAYS HOUSTON MIGRANT SEX CRIME WAVE TIED TO BORDER FAILURES
“We have to remember that every time the Democrats start whining about illegal immigration, which they use to prop up their numbers and their economy, remember that they are saying how little they think of people who are beneath them,” she went on. “That’s what this is all about. They’d like a permanent underclass. And California is not that kind of place.”
Hoge also accused Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass of manipulating immigrant populations with scare tactics regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement. She pointed to a recent case in which a Mexican illegal immigrant named Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon allegedly faked her own ICE kidnapping. Before being discovered to be an elaborate hoax, Calderon’s supposed kidnapping was widely reported by media outlets and even pushed by Bass, who cited the incident as an example of the Trump administration promoting fear in immigrant communities.
“Turns out the poor lady, whether for mental reasons or just to be part of the group, faked a kidnapping and said it was ICE, and none of the above happened,” said Hoge. “And I lay that squarely at the feet of Mayor Karen Bass, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the drama-crats who insist that passing sanctuary city rules will help people when they do the exact opposite.”
“There was a time when we had, funnily enough, a Republican mayor, Richard Riordan, and L.A. was booming and amazing, and young people were here, and everyone was excited to be living the California dream,” she said. “That’s not true anymore, because we have a two-tiered system.”
FORMER ICE CHIEF TORCHES ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ BIDEN-ERA POLICIES AS TRUMP’S DHS FINDS MIGRANT CHILDREN
Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Newsom and Bass for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Newsom has recently called Trump a “chaos agent” who has “torn asunder” California communities through his administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
The governor claimed Trump’s “cruelty” is “about appearing tough.”