Swalwell: Laken Riley Act Means ‘People Are Going to Be Targeted Because They’re Brown’

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) defended his vote against the Laken Riley Act by stating that “people are going to be targeted because they’re brown.”

Host Chris Hayes asked, “{snip} You voted against it. Why, and do you think it’s an ominous sign that this is getting Democratic votes?”

Swalwell answered, “Because people are going to be targeted because they’re brown. That’s what’s going to happen in America, because we’re not saying now that you have to go through the court process and be convicted of a violent crime — and I don’t want any undocumented individual who commits a violent crime to be here. {snip} But what this says is if the officer just says, you know what, that person looks like they’re undocumented, I’m going to pull them over, now, in the officer’s mind, whether it was a lawful detention or not, he’s got the person pulled over. And if they are undocumented, [not] having committed any crime, supporting their family, going to work, working in an agriculture field, working in hospitality, they’re gone. {snip}”