Marcus Coleman slams Congress over immigration rhetoric

The father of a girl from California who suffered a brain injury when… Illegal immigrant A commercial truck driver who collided with a vehicle she was traveling in urged lawmakers in Congress to prioritize the safety of American citizens amid contradictory rhetoric about the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.

Marcus Coleman was present during a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week in which Kristi Noem, then Homeland Security Secretary, answered questions about the agency’s immigration enforcement actions.

“At this point right now, what they’re doing is very disrespectful. It’s insensitive,” Coleman told Fox News Digital, referring to elected officials who oppose enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Until that happens to them, this is the view they will take.”

On Wednesday, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., an outspoken critic of the policy, said Trump administrationapologized to the families in attendance who lost loved ones due to the actions of illegal immigrants, before commenting on immigrant crime statistics during his interaction with Noem.

Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“I’m sorry to the people here and your families,” Cohen said, placing his hand on his heart. “What happened to you and your children or your family members is terrible, but they are probably…citizens who are more vulnerable to attack by U.S. citizens who are not illegal.”

Noem, who has since been reappointed as special envoy for Shield of the Americas, responded by calling Cohen’s comments insulting to the Angels, which refers to relatives of Americans killed by individuals in the United States illegally.

“The vast majority of people sitting behind me have lost their children to drugs, drug overdoses that came across the southern border,” she said. “They died because their children were injured in road accidents where illegal drivers were driving a truck. Marcus Coleman, Delilah’s father, has told the story over and over again.”

On June 20, 2024, a multi-vehicle crash in California was allegedly caused by an 18-wheeler commercial vehicle driven by Partap Singh, according to authorities. (Department of Homeland Security)

In 2024, Delilah Coleman is seriously injured Southern California When the driver of an 18-wheel trailer moving at 60 mph collided with the vehicle she was riding in. She suffered a fractured skull, a fractured femur, and a brain injury.

Partap Singh, an illegal immigrant from India, was identified as the driver who obtained a commercial driver’s license in California, authorities said. Singh was driving at an unsafe speed and failed to stop for traffic in a construction zone just before the accident.

Trump deflates ‘radical left’ as he stands alongside Kristi Noem amid immigration unrest

Marcus Coleman holds his daughter Delilah Coleman as President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress on February 24. Coleman criticized Rep. Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee, and other lawmakers who oppose efforts to detain and deport illegal immigrants. (Wayne McNamee/Getty Images)

“They come home, like my daughter’s driver,” Coleman added. “He’s back in India and living a free life. My daughter said, ‘You’re dealing with this. If he were an American citizen, he would be in prison right now.’

President Donald Trump honored Delilah during his State of the Union address, where she received applause from the room as she attended with her father.

“Delilah Coleman was only five years old in June 2024 when an eighteen-wheel tractor trailer slammed into her parked car at sixty miles per hour or more,” Trump said. “The driver was an illegal alien who was let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver’s license by open borders politicians in California.”

A California father says Newsom ignored him after an illegal immigrant truck driver left his daughter unable to walk

Partap Singh, an illegal immigrant from India, was arrested after the accident that injured Dahlia Coleman. (Department of Homeland Security)

Trump and Noem have been criticized by Democrats who consider the measures taken to arrest illegal immigrants harmful. Meanwhile, Republicans cited multiple cases in which American citizens were killed, injured and harmed by people living in the United States illegally.

“They shouldn’t be here to begin with,” Coleman said. “So for every one of those families out there, just the fact that it was an illegal person that did it, it wasn’t supposed to happen.”

During Wednesday’s session, Cohen hinted at 2024 Ministry of Justice A study using data from Texas shows that undocumented immigrants are less than half as likely as native-born Americans to be arrested for murder.

Cohen added: “The same pattern applies to assaults, sexual assaults, burglaries, burglaries, robberies and arson. They are also half as likely to be arrested for drug crimes.”

Delilah Coleman was seriously injured in a crash allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant. (Department of Homeland Security)

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“The facts show that most of the people I arrested and tried to deport did not commit any of these crimes,” he said. “In fact, they committed no crimes at all.”

Coleman said he disagreed with almost everything Cohen said during the hearing.

“It’s very disturbing, it’s very disturbing to me,” he said. He added, “I completely disagree with almost everything he said. The people who sit there and believe in open borders are the same people who make sure their doors are double locked and make sure their gun rights are equal.”

Like many who support the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, he said immigrant crime statistics mean little to the victims’ families.

“For that family, it’s huge, but for the person it doesn’t happen to, it’s a small number,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cohen’s office.

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