House Dem Suggests GOP Colleague Will Try to ‘Revoke’ His Citizenship After Threatening to Deport a Witness

A California Congressman claimed he feared a Republican colleague would try to revoke his citizenship in an extraordinary moment Tuesday during a House Oversight Committee hearing.

Rep. David Min (D-CA) was questioning Steven A. Camarota, the head of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, when he made the stunning statement about Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), who chairs the committee’s Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses.

Min claimed Gill had previously threatened witnesses with deportation before raising the chilling point about his own citizenship — sparking a snarky response from Gill:

DAVID MIN: Now, a quick yes-no question. Do you think that the president, any president, should be able to unilaterally ignore or amend the Constitution by executive order?

STEVEN A. CAMAROTA: The Supreme Court has decided this question.

MIN: That was my question, and I’ll reclaim my time. Do you the Constitution allows us to revoke people’s citizenship because we don’t like what they have to say?

CAMAROTA: No, I don’t think that makes sense.

MIN: Well, the chair of this task force, Brandon Gill, tried to revoked the citizenship of one of our congressional colleagues last year, circulating a petition to try to pressure the Trump administration to deport Representative Ilhan Omar because he did not agree with some of her comments and her actions. I would just note that’s the opposite of supporting and defending the Constitution.

Some might call it sedition. And this is all very deeply personal to me because I am myself a birthright citizen.

My parents were here in America on student visas when I was born. They had not become naturalized until after I was born.

And if Donald Trump and Brandon Gill had had their way, maybe my parents would have been denied their visas. Maybe they would have been deported. Maybe my citizenship would have been denied.

And maybe if I say something today or beyond that Brandon Gill doesn’t like, he’ll try to revoke my citizenship.

But thankfully, Brandon Gill does not get to decide who is a citizen, because that question is clearly laid out in the Constitution of the United States.

And while we’re apparently living through a moment of doublespeak, where a task force meant to, quote, defend constitutional rights is chaired by a person with no regard for the Constitution, with an agenda to try to take away constitutional rights, I and my colleagues here will continue to fight as long as we’re members of Congress, to ensure that every American is ensured the due process and fair representation that the 14th Amendment also guarantees. And with that, I yield back.

BRANDON GILL:Gentleman yields back. Don’t worry, I won’t try to revoke your citizenship, Mr. Min.

Watch above via C-Span.

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