At a "Fight Oligarchy Tour' event in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spoke about the Trump Administration's arrest and attempted deportations of student activists.
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00:00My name is Alexandria, as some of you may know me as AOC, and we are all here together because we share the frustration and heartache that comes from watching those in power actively tear down or refuse to fight for everyday working Americans like us.
00:25And we're here because an extreme concentration of power, greed, and corruption is taking over this country like never before.
00:38Oligarchy in America.
00:41And we must acknowledge the terrifying moment that we are in right now.
00:49And that what we are hearing and seeing with our own eyes is in fact happening.
00:56We are watching as our neighbors, students, and friends are being fired, targeted, and disappeared.
01:05It is real.
01:08People we love are being targeted and harassed for being LGBTQ.
01:18Our co-workers, U.S. citizens, and immigrants alike are being disappeared off the street.
01:27Educators are being fired for teaching American history accurately, and activists are being detained with no charge or evidence for using their First Amendment rights.
01:46Especially if they are using them to try to end the war in Gaza.
01:55In fact, the Trump administration admits that it has jailed a young father and husband, Mahmoud Khalil, without any evidence or charge of a crime.
02:08And they admit that they have thrown him in a cell thousands of miles away from his family in New York because he attended a protest and are detaining him for the content of his speech.
02:20And nothing more than that.
02:23But let's be clear, Utah.
02:27Donald Trump's detention of Mahmoud Khalil for his speech is anti-American.
02:34And we demand his release, along with the release of Rumeisa Ozturk, who he is also jailing for writing an op-ed in her school paper.
02:46And we demand this, Utah, because we do have power in this moment.
02:53All of us do, you do, and every day people do.
03:00And it will never be just institutions and officials alone that uphold our democracy.
03:09It will always be the people, the masses, who refuse to comply with authoritarian regimes,
03:18who are the last and strongest defense of our country and our freedoms.
03:25Because we know that a better world is possible.
03:30And we are willing to do something about it.