Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) are facing backlash over their responses to a reporter asking whether they “care if U.S. citizens accidentally get detained in [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] ICE raids.”
“No, I’m not concerned about that,” Norman said in response to the question asked by a reporter on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
“I am concerned about law and order,” he said. When the reporter pressed him about U.S. citizens getting detained and said “it’s happening a lot,” Norman said: “I don’t believe that.”
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Norman went on to praise President Donald Trump’s immigration Tom Homan, saying he “is doing such good things.”
When Tuberville was asked the same question by the reporter, he said: “Well, first of all, don’t put yourself in a situation where that happens.” He went on to say that U.S. citizens should not be “hanging around with people who are not citizens of this country.”
He continued: “Don’t hang around illegals. Bottom line,” adding that “something bad” can happen if American citizens are “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The GOP lawmakers’ remarks were criticized on social media.
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Reacting to a clip showing Norman’s comments, the account @WarMonitor wrote on the social platform X: “The congressman doesn’t seem to care that U.S. citizens are being detained in ICE raids… then tries to deny it, despite multiple confirmed reports proving otherwise.”
House Homeland Committee Security Democrats’ official X account also reacted to Norman’s remarks, saying: “MORE Republicans say they’re OK with racial profiling American citizens! Absolutely sickening.”
Commenting on Tuberville’s answer, a user wrote: “So basically don’t live near, don’t work with, and for heavens sake don’t interact with brown people.”
Another user remarked: “We are now supposed to ask our friends for their ‘papers.’”
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Watch the video of Norman’s comments below, or by clicking this link.