New Mexico's sole Republican federal representative, Yvette Herrell made headlines last week when she made comments proposing temporary asylum for the Canadians protesting vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
According to reporting by the Las Cruces Sun-News, on February 19th, Herrell said she planned on introducing legislation that would temporarily grant asylum to “innocent Canadian protestors being “persecuted” by their government.
Herrell compared the truckers in Canada to political prisoners, and said they’ve had their property confiscated and their bank accounts frozen.
Herrell also said the Canadian government was quickly becoming the embarrassment of the free world.
Canadians initially protesting a vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers quickly swarmed and occupied Ottawa, the Canadian national capital for three weeks in February.
Herrell’s bill, which was introduced on February 25, is titled the “Canadian Trucker Freedom Act of 2022”.
Asylum would be offered to Canadians involved in peacefully protesting the COVID-19 mandates and were harmed “financially, physically, or in his or her reputation as a result of their participation”.
Opponents of Herrell’s bill call it a “distraction”. But the congresswomen told the Sun-News it is nothing more than helping and standing up to protect our neighbors to the north.