Great speech by Sen. Tim Kaine:
VIDEO: KAINE SPEAKS ON SENATE FLOOR TO DISCUSS TRUMP’S VILLAINIZATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ON U.S. CITIZENS AND ECONOMY
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) spoke on the Senate floor to pull back the curtain on what the Trump Administration claims is an immigration crackdown focused on reducing crime. In reality, President Donald Trump has spent years dehumanizing immigrants and their countries of origins. Since his inauguration, his Administration has rounded up thousands of individuals, hurting communities across Virginia and the country, including people with no criminal records, children, and U.S. citizens.
“I rise to talk about the issue that will dominate attention in the Senate between now and next Friday,” said Kaine. “A discussion about reforms to the Department of Homeland Security and the activities it’s engaged in all around the country.”
“President Trump and his Administration have launched upon an unprecedented campaign against immigrants,” Kaine said. “The claim of the Administration and many who support it is that this is because of a desire to protect Americans and rid American streets of criminals. I maintain that President Trump has instead demeaned and dehumanized immigrants and their countries of origin since Day One of his political career for matters completely unrelated to public safety.”
Kaine continued, “[Trump’s] efforts to round up thousands and thousands of people he views as the ‘other’—on spurious charges and without due process—are sweeping up all kinds of people, including children, and they are hurting our country, hurting our economy, and hurting my commonwealth.”
“President Trump’s immigration crackdown has been violent. It’s been inhumane. It’s rounded up innocent people—mothers, children. It’s rounded up U.S. citizens,” said Kaine. “The visceral disdain for immigrants, but particularly for those who don’t look like him or from countries he doesn’t like, has led to a crackdown that has far exceeded the stated claim that it is about law enforcement and public safety.”
“While he and his enablers claim that they’re after the ‘worst of the worst’ or that they’re only going after people who are criminals, that’s just not true,” Kaine continued. He then mentioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detention of five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, as well as a U.S. citizen Mr. ChongLy Scott Thao.
“From September 21, 2025 until last month—January 7—single-day ICE detentions increased to 11,296 a day,” said Kaine. “Well over two-thirds had no criminal convictions and no criminal charges … As of October 2025, more than 107 U.S. citizens were detained by immigration agents. That’s what we know of … This is not about law enforcement! This is not about public safety! It is a campaign against people because of the color of their skin or where they are from.”
During the floor speech, Kaine also highlighted the positive contributions immigrants have made and the critical role they play in boosting the economy.
“Immigrants are crucial and beneficial to the economy in Virginia and throughout America,” Kaine continued. “Immigrants make up 13.2% of the Virginia population … When I was born, it was one of 100 … Today, it’s one of eight … The growth of our immigrant populations with their strength and innovation and culture has been a huge part of the reason that Virginia has gone from back of the pack economically to front of the pack economically.”
“We would not be the Commonwealth that we are—the success that we are—without the growth of our immigrant populations,” said Kaine. “In being here for 13 years, I’ve just heard too few words that talk about the contributions that immigrants have made to this country in our entire history. Immigration is the transfusion into the blood stream of the American economy and the American politics that keeps our nation young at 250—new skills, new ideas, new connections to places around the world.”
“I speak from personal experience having worked as a missionary in central America—I know the kinds of people who come here, and I know why they come here. And they come here just for the same reason my great grandparents came here from Ireland beginning in the late 1840s because there weren’t opportunities for them. Now the laws may be a little different today than then, but the motivations are no different,” Kaine continued. “Virtually everybody in this chamber has an immigration story where—thank God—their family decided that they could make a better life for themselves in the United States. And just as we don’t demonize each other because we have immigrant roots, we shouldn’t be demonizing people like this young five-year-old’s family and terrorizing them as we are.”
“Any policy that begins with the assumption that immigrants are a problem or a threat or a public safety concern—instead of beginning with the reality that our immigrant communities have been part of the great success of this nation—any policy that starts with the wrong assumption is bankrupt morally, bankrupt legally, bankrupt economically,” Kaine concluded. “It will hurt our nation. It’s already hurting our nation. It will continue to hurt it even further.”
Kaine has been a strong opponent of Trump’s immigration policies. On January 23, Kaine announced he would not support the House-passed government funding bill as is, which included funding for the out-of-control DHS. Then, Kaine strongly supported the successful Democratic push to remove DHS funding from the government funding bill, which Kaine said fell short of protecting Americans from reckless violence at the hands of federal agents. Last July, Kaine introduced legislation to increase transparency, accountability, and safety in immigration law enforcement, including prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing masks to hide their faces.
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