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Furious users took to social media to blast an illegal alien who has been present in the United States for 37 years after she demanded amnesty in a Spanish rant alongside top Democratic Party leaders.
“I ask that you be champions of a change in the immigration laws,” said Margarita Cielo Balbuena, flanked by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Rob Menendez, D-N.J., through an interpreter earlier this week.
“We need a path to citizenship for those of us that have been present for at least seven years in this country,” she continued. “We need a stop to these raids that immigration is using to terrorize Dover [New Jersey].”
Margarita Cielo Balbuena demand amnesty for illegal aliens at an August 2026 event in New Jersey with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. (FOX 5 New York)
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A clip of the video went viral online Wednesday.
“It is not just that someone like me, who has been in this country since 1989, who pays taxes, who is a homeowner, who is a business owner who gives work to others, someone who has children and grandchildren who are born in this country — that I have to suffer the psychological and physical abuse and that I also have to suffer the humiliation that is the violent arrest and detention in a detention center,” said Cielo Balbuena.
The foreign-born woman was detained in ICE’s Elizabeth Detention Center for two months, and claimed that she was treated inhumanely, according to the New Jersey Globe.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries faces growing pressure as democratic socialist-backed candidates gain influence in New York, raising new questions about the party’s ideological direction. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But online opponents of illegal immigration were not sympathetic to Cielo Balbuena’s call.
Among her most prominent and harshest critics was former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commander-at-large Gregory Bovino.
“You have lived in the United States since 1989. That is 37 years. You still need a translator,” he listed.
“At a Democratic event you stood up and demanded a path to citizenship for anyone who has been here just 7 years,” Bovino continued. “Notice the arrogance. Notice the entitlement.”
He went on to claim that Democrats’ open borders policies allowed so many foreigners into the country so quickly that “assimilation is no longer required.”
“There can be no amnesty and there can be no exceptions. All illegals must go,” the John Birch Society said on X in response to the video.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – JUNE 03: Protestors gather outside the federal immigration center at Delaney Hall, where ICE is housing detained illegal immigrants, on June 03, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. ((Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images))
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“No English. No citizenship,” said popular online personality Brigitte Gabriel.
“No. Someone who wanted to be a citizen would care enough to learn the language. In any country,” said another post that garnered over 1,000 likes.
“Immediate deportation,” said actor Matthew Marsden. “A just country that cares about its citizens should defend it. That includes getting rid of people like this.”
Rep. Jeffries spoke at the event, and demanded the closure of Delaney Hall, another ICE detention facility in New Jersey that was subject to intense protests and sometimes violent riots for months earlier this year.
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Protestors, politicians and ICE agents gather outside Delaney Hall, an immigration facility in Newark, N.J., on May 27, 2026. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox News Digital)
“Delaney Hall needs to be shut down,” Jeffries said. “That will remain a high priority for us until it takes place.”
“The behavior that ICE is engaging in is inconsistent with our values and what America should represent.”
The White House fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying: “These types of smears by sanctuary politicians are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats.”
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“Our ICE officers are heroes who put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities. Democrats must stop demonizing our officers for simply enforcing our nation’s laws,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.