Durbin Condemns Ruthless ICE Raids, Orders To Deploy National Guard Troops To Illinois In Senate Floor Speech

Durbin Condemns Ruthless ICE Raids, Orders To Deploy National Guard Troops To Illinois In Senate Floor Speech

"Terrorizing families with midnight raids and troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our nation's history," Durbin said in his speech on the Senate floor

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered a speech on the Senate floor condemning the Trump Administration for the cruel, inhumane raids being carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents at the direction of President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem during "Operation Midway Blitz." In his remarks, Durbin shared disturbing details about these raids in Chicago, including stories of children being ripped from their beds in the middle of the night. Durbin also called on President Trump to immediately rescind his order to federalize 300 Illinois and up to 400 Texas National Guard troops and deploy them in Illinois.

"On Friday, in the midst of a Republican-led government shutdown, President Trump revealed his priorities. It isn't to protect the health care, the health insurance of millions of Americans who are about to lose their insurance or see premiums skyrocket. No, that's not it. The President's priority? To deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities. Why? Purely for political theater and to advance his extreme agenda," Durbin began.

Last Tuesday, ICE agents overtook an apartment building in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood in the middle of the night. Agents burst into residents' apartments and pulled people from their beds to detain them using zip-ties. Many of those detained, held for hours by ICE before being released, were U.S. citizens. Four children, who are all U.S. citizens with undocumented parents, were reportedly separated from their parents and taken into custody.

"In the early morning hours of Tuesday last week, while this government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald Trump launched a military law enforcement assault on the city of Chicago. In the city's South Shore neighborhood, hundreds, hundreds of federal agents, many hiding their faces with masks, rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters, darted out of disguised moving trucks, armed with military-grade weapons, to descend on a targeted apartment building in the city of Chicago. They swarmed through the building, knocking down doors, tearing up homes, and it appears that these agents knew nothing in advance about the residents whose homes they were destroying," Durbin said. "In the dead of night, federal agents reportedly started checking on the residents as they brought them out of the building, residents that included American citizens and children. They checked on them to see if maybe they had an outstanding warrant for their arrest or were undocumented… Many were yanked from their homes and their beds and detained shirtless. Some were detained using zip-ties, including kids."

"Here's what one witness of the event said: 'Kids were crying. People were screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I saw the little girl come around the corner, because they were bringing the kids down, too. Had them zip tied to each other,'" Durbin said. "In the middle of the night, in the city of Chicago, [there was] an assault on an apartment building in America."

"Secretary Kristi Noem's Department of Homeland Security posted to social media a highly produced video of the raid, her version of the story, because that's all this is to them-a promotional video, political theater. The human toll must be immense," Durbin said. "What if it was your child, yanked out of his bed in the middle of the night, hand zip-tied behind him, brought down with few if any clothes on, standing in the street while all this is happening, watching his parents be arrested?"

Durbin went on to describe ICE agents' aggression toward the press, who have been documenting protests at the Broadview ICE facility. He then chastised the President for rejecting bipartisan immigration reforms, instead taking a cruel approach that begins and ends with ruthless immigration raids.

"In another case, ICE agents fired a pepper ball into CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei's car. What was her crime? Driving by the Broadview ICE facility to report on the protests there. It's known in the Constitution as freedom of the press," Durbin continued.

"I have long fought for humane reforms to our immigration system on a bipartisan basis and evidence-based ways to reduce crime in our cities. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I'm all in. But sending in militarized federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to terrorize Chicago or any American community, in any state, is not the American way," Durbin said.

"These actions have accomplished what I believe is the President's true intention here: spreading fear in America, especially among immigrant communities," Durbin said. "I go to these communities virtually every weekend when I return back to Illinois. I meet with the people who live there. They are scared to death. People who have been here for years, no criminal record, no reason to be removed, working and paying taxes, are afraid to shop and afraid to go to church."

Durbin then spoke about the Trump Administration's decision to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard troops and hundreds more Texas National Guard troops, ordering them to Illinois over the objections of the Governor of Illinois.

"The President's decision to unleash military personnel against the city of Chicago and American communities is another pillar in his greater master plan to weaponize the federal government against those he views as 'the enemy within,'" Durbin said. "White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, ranted to law enforcement agents on the eve of their Memphis deployment that they were being 'unleashed.'"

"In addition to Memphis and Chicago, this President has targeted cities like Los Angeles and Portland with reckless immigration raids and unnecessary deployment of the military power over the objection of state and local officials. I fear these disturbing developments are the latest indicators that we are on a slippery slope into control by the Trump regime," Durbin continued. "The President is attempting to turn the Department of Justice, FBI, ICE, and the military into his own personal police force."

"This not only erodes trust between communities and the people tasked with protecting them, [but] is an existential threat to civil liberties, the rule of law, and the core values of our who we are as Americans," Durbin said.

Durbin continued, highlighting Illinois leaders' efforts to push back on President Trump's heinous order to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois. Today, Durbin led all Democratic members of the Illinois delegation in sending a letter to President Trump, demanding that he immediately reverse his decision to federalize and deploy 300 Illinois National Guard troops and up to 400 Texas National Guard troops to the Chicago region.

"Today, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a lawsuit today to block the Trump Administration's unconstitutional attempt to deploy troops in Illinois. I joined with all of my Democratic colleagues in the Illinois delegation to call on the President to immediately rescind his unnecessary and dangerous deployment of the military to Illinois," Durbin said.

"I've spoken personally to the Governor of our state, JB Pritzker, several times this weekend as the story developed. He did not ask for the National Guard troops to be sent in from Texas or any place. There is no need for it... I'm going to continue, as Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking out," Durbin said.

Durbin concluded his remarks by once again condemning the President's mass deportation scheme, underscoring that history will remember the President's shameful crusade against immigrants.

"Where is the humanity in tearing families apart? If there is a dangerous person, for God's sake, put them in a separate category. But families that are doing their best to get by, work, and pay taxes, and have children who are citizens of the United States, should never be treated like this in America," Durbin said.

"Terrorizing families with midnight raids and troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our nation's history… President Trump is not intent on fighting crime. He is intent on spreading fear, and in doing so, he is destroying the values which define us as Americans," Durbin concluded.

As ICE has increased its presence in the Chicago area, conducting reckless immigration raids and aggressively engaging with peaceful protesters at Broadview ICE facility, Durbin has continued to push for oversight on the facility's conditions and the brutal tactics used by federal agents during raids. In September, after Illinois delegation members were barred from entering Broadview, Durbin joined U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03) to urge ICE Field Office Director Russell Holt to promptly schedule a meeting with congressional members. ICE officials have yet to respond.

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

-30-