A force of nature is defined as “a person whose energy and determination make them hard to oppose.”
That may be a fair description of Arizona Congressional District Three Representative Yassamin Ansari the last 24 hours as she exposed more examples of Immigration detention abuses in Eloy and staged a sit in at the entrance to Speaker Mike Johnson’s office in a dare for him to come out and talk with her about the Trump-Republican induced government shutdown which has cruelly harmed Americans and protected pedophiles by delaying the release of the Epstein Files while House Republicans went on a paid vacation and abandoned their duty to serve their constituents.
Remember it was Republicans who thought work requirements were necessary for Medicaid recipients to prove they were not mooching the system.
Guess they were speaking from experience.
Remember people (voters) get to fire the people that do not show up to work for them in the Midterms.
Back to Representative Ansari.
Yesterday, she paid her third visit to the Eloy Detention Center to check on the medical condition of Arbella “Yari” Rodríguez Márquez, a detained illegal immigrant suffering from leukemia.
Before her detention, Ms. Rodríguez Márquez resided in Representative Ansari’s district.
After the visit, the Congresswoman reported again on the substandard conditions the women in the Eloy Detention Center are facing including being forced to reside in areas that are set at 42 degrees.
She also said that Ms. Rodríguez Márquez, who vomited blood in her presence and has bruises on her legs, had not received the test results from a delayed visit from an oncologist last month or a second visit from that specialist. According to Ansari, one detention official questioned whether “Yari” even had leukemia.
In comments to the press after her visit, the Representative said:
“I want to remind people that 20 people across the United States have died in the year 2025 in ICE custody…An additional 40 billion dollars from the Republican budget that Donald Trump signed into law just a couple of months ago Is going towards the detainment of countless individuals who are being treated in a horrific manner. The rooms that they sleep in were set to 42 degrees Fahrenheit. So these women were freezing at night 42 degrees Fahrenheit. She (Yari) used to be a chef. She said it was the same temperature of the freezers that she would keep her food… Everything in these detention centers is awful, awful, awful, awful. Nothing short of torture and psychological torture in particular of the people who are in there.”
Please click here to see the video of the Representative’s remarks.
After flying back to Washington D.C., the Representative staged a sit/camp in in front of House “Speaker” Mike Johnson’s office with a sign taped to the table that read “Mike Johnson is starving families and gutting health care to cover up the Epstein Files. Change my mind.”
The sit/camp in generated a lot of media interest at the Capitol.
During one of the interviews with the Representative, Mr. Johnson’s aids turned up the volume of the big screen television at the entry way to his office so it would be difficult to hear Ms. Ansari’s answers to the questions.
In that interview, the Congresswoman said:
“This is all very serious because people are suffering immensely right now. I have seen the suffering firsthand in my district with Americans who are struggling to put food on the table, who are struggling to pay their bills, who are struggling to pay their rent, and I want my Johnson to try to change my mind if he feels that he’s not doing this. I want to understand why he thinks it’s conscionable to keep the House of Representatives shut down for seven weeks to not work with Democrats to reopen the government and look at this. They are a joke. He’s scared to come out and talk to me. Does not talk to House Leadership. Does not talk to anyone. Doesn’t do his job. Just bows down to King Trump…I’m not leaving till I talk to Mike Johnson… So far, I haven’t heard a credible answer from him. I’m willing to sit here all day. I’ve been at work for the last seven weeks. I don’t think I’ve taken a day off in the last seven weeks between being here in DC, trying to negotiate to being back in my district to volunteering at food banks trying to talk to community health centers. I’ve donated my salary to a local community health center because people in my district are really, really struggling. Americans are struggling, and none of this makes sense to the person who’s just trying to pay their rent…We just decided to do this because we’re not getting answers and Adelita Grijalva has been waiting 44 days to be sworn in to represent her community. She can barely respond to constituents. This is as undemocratic as it gets, and that is the least that he could do. He could swear her in today if you wanted to and a pro forma session and he is choosing not to… Most of them (Republicans) are still way more scared of Donald Trump than they are of their constituents, which is a shame. I don’t know why you’re here. If you’re just beholden to Donald Trump, but that’s the kind of Ironclad grip that he has on the Republican party. We’re starting to see the cracks… People are feeling the pressure because their constituents are pissed off.”
Following the sit/camp in, Representative Ansari posted an additional social media video, saying:
“Speaker Mike Johnson kicked me out of his office today for talking about the Epstein files. I sat outside Mike Johnson’s office today to ask him a very simple question. Are you keeping the government shut down to cover up the Epstein files because people are going hungry. Millions of Americans are seeing their health insurance premiums double and Adelita Grijalva still has not been sworn in after 44 days since she was elected. Clearly Mike Johnson did not like that question because, as I was outside, talking about the Republican failure to reopen the government and fix the healthcare crisis, he tried to drown me out… Really Mike, that’s the best you’ve got. To turn the volume up on the TV. Yeah, that’s not going to stop me. Mike Johnson wouldn’t talk to me and Republicans won’t either because they have been on vacation for two months now. They don’t care about the fact that people are going hungry or that costs are skyrocketing. All they care about is protecting Donald Trump and protecting pedophiles, and you can’t change my mind on that.”
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