GOP rep booed by hundreds at town hall after saying migrants 'not entitled to due process'

28 March

One Republican member of Congress was met with a rowdy crowd of several hundred people at a town hall in her normally solid-red district who frequently booed and shouted her down — particularly when she defended President Donald Trump's most controversial policies.

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) held a town hall meeting on Friday in Westfield, Indiana, which is in reliably conservative Hamilton County. According to WIRED reporter Jake Lahut, Trump won the county by a 51-45 margin in November, and Spartz defeated her Democratic opponent by 18 percentage points. Politico national political correspondent Adam Wren tweeted that there were approximately 500 people present at the event.

Roughly an hour into the stream of the town hall posted by the Indianapolis Star, one man stood up and asked Spartz about "all the immigrants who are being rounded up and deported," which drew loud applause from attendees.

"Are they entitled to due process, or is the expectation that we're supposed to take the word of the administration that these people need to be shipped out of the country without any opportunity to defend themselves?" The man asked, which prompted a standing ovation from the crowd.

Spartz began her response by acknowledging that she "came here as an immigrant" from Ukraine, and opined that the immigration system is broken, saying that "coming here legally takes decades." But she then pivoted to arguing that "we cannot open the borders" and that undocumented immigrants can live off of "benefits." She notably didn't answer the man's question about whether the Trump administration can be taken at its word that the immigrants being deprived of due process are criminals who don't deserve their day in court.

"We have to make sure that we get that border under control. I've been to that border many times. It's insanity," Spartz said as the crowd booed. "When you seek asylum, wait in the other country ... There is no due process if you come here illegally because you violated the law. Period! You violated the law, you are not entitled to due process."

Wren tweeted that many of the attendees left the town hall early because they felt Spartz wasn't actually answering constituents' questions. NOTUS reporter Daniella Diaz, who was live-tweeting from the town hall, reported that one constituent shouted: "Could you even answer one question?"

Watch the stream of Spartz's town hall below, or by clicking this link.

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