Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley faced another room of hearted constituents at a town hall in Northwood, Iowa, on Wednesday.
In video shared by The Associated Press, Grassley faces a room of Iowans who are at times shouting in disagreement about some of the Trump administration’s policies.
It’s reminiscent of the tense exchanges captured at Grassley town hall in Fort Madison, Iowa, last week.
Much like last week’s town hall, Grassley faced a question from a constituent about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident who was deported to a prison in El Salvador.
In the video a constituent can be heard calling on Grassley to consider issues of due process.
“We have a due process and it was not followed and the Supreme Court ruled that he needed to come back, so Trump said, ‘Nope I’m not going to do that,” so why do we even have a Supreme Court if they are not going to follow the ruling of the Supreme Court?” the unidentified constituent asks Grassley.
Her question is met with applause by the audience.
Grassley responded by pointing out other parts of the court’s rulings.
“You’re looking at part of the Supreme Court decision, so let me give you the rest of the Supreme Court’s decision,” Grassley says. “The Supreme Court said, like you said, the president ought to make a good faith effort to get this person returned. But it also said to the district judge that you should be careful that you don’t interfere with the constitutional responsibilities of the federal government to conduct our foreign affairs. Which is totally within the executive branch of government.”
The senator was also booed when he suggested that Abrego Garcia’s case “wouldn’t have been an issue if [former President Joe] Biden had enforced the law.”
In one on-camera moment, attendees appear to be arguing with each another. It’s not clear, but the argument appears to be about tattoos. Abrego Garcia was identified as a member of the MS-13 gang by one of his tattoos, although he and his family deny any affiliation with the gang.
Another constituent can be heard shouting, “Shut up! Shut up!”
Grassley said the language he heard at Wednesday’s town hall was “stronger” than what he’s seen elsewhere.
“You’ll see that people have very strong feelings. You heard me also say in the beginning that a lot of us have been advised not to have these town meetings because it gives a forum for people to exert disagreement,” Grassley says. “Sometimes very strong disagreement with what’s going on in Washington.”
Republican leaders have suggested that members avoid in-person town halls after several incidents with angry audience members earlier this year.
“The bottom line of it is that the language you heard here, and I heard, was stronger than it’s been in any place I have and I don’t think it’s typical of Worth County. It’s not typical of most town meetings I have, and let’s just say this is an outlier,” Grassley says.
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