Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Republicans To Join With Democrats To Pass Commonsense Reforms To Hold ICE Accountable And Protect Public Safety

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today spoke on the Senate floor urging Republicans to join with Democrats to pass commonsense reforms to rein in ICE and end the violence or explain to Americans why they are endangering public safety and ignoring the Constitution. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

For months, Americans have watched in horror as ICE agents have stopped acting like law enforcement and started terrorizing communities across the country.

In cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Phoenix, and elsewhere, federal agents have been running around with no identification, barging into homes without warrants, arresting people without due process, and using force in ways that violate people's constitutional rights. On two occasions, American citizens were executed in broad daylight.

No other police department in America-no city police, no Sherrif no state police, or, until recently, no federal police-would tolerate this kind of unrestrained barbarity. The American people are reacting, they're appalled. Data shows that overwhelmingly, even Republicans, non-MAGA Republicans in particular, are really upset about these violations of rights. They look at the pictures on TV and say, "this is not America." This is not America. Well, Donald Trump is realizing that Americans are turning against him on this issue.

And it's not an immigration issue; it's a public safety issue. And Republicans are on the wrong side of public safety right now. In fact, they're defending using tax dollars to create chaos in our cities instead of using those dollars to reduce costs of health care. Well Donald Trump is getting it. He called me last week because he didn't want to have the six bills tied together. He knew Homeland Security was much more of a problem.

Yesterday, Trump said "maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch" when it comes to ICE's tactics. Well, President Trump, if you want a softer touch, then the right answer is to lean on Republican leaders in Congress to pass the proposals Democrats have put together.

Frankly, Republican leaders can't get it done without you President Trump, because they're too scared and too gripped by the extreme right to do anything without your backing. Their immediate rejection of Democrat's reasonable, commonsense proposals was totally predictable because the Republican leaders don't want ICE to have any accountability-totally adverse to what Americans believe and want.

Passing legislation along the lines that Democrats have proposed is the right thing to do-Americans already support our ideas, they're not extreme, they mirror the same standards that law enforcement around the country already follows.

Change, of course, will require legislation, or else the public won't buy it.

And legislation will require Donald Trump to push the Republicans into action. Leader Jeffries and I are ready to negotiate. Yesterday, we formally shared our specific demands with Republican leadership about what must happen to rein in ICE and stop the violence.

Democrats in the House and Senate are on the same exact page about what needs to be done to rein in ICE, and end the violence. What must we do? What kind of reforms must we see? We must see the end to roving patrols. People can't just be picked up off the street, and thrown into some dark place with no explanation as to why, with no warrant. You can't barge into someone's home without a warrant. That's what we're saying. We need reasonable use of force policies, like states do. Every state has good rules for their police, for their sheriffs. Why should ICE be the only exception? Why should they be allowed to continue to terrorize our cities?

And, of course, we must have no secret police, with masks off and cameras on. Speaker Johnson, he said that's wrong. Why? Explain it. Every local community, I'm sure the communities down in Louisiana, the sheriffs and state police, have full identification of police officers. Yes, there's a problem with doxxing, and that can easily be dealt with in the rare moment it has, it doesn't require all masks stay on. Everyone knows that. These are just excuses because they're afraid of the right wing who believe in this horrible stuff. We also make clear that certain places-like schools, and churches, and election places-should be off limits. We should make it clear that American citizens cannot be arrested and detained without due process.

Republicans, Leader Thune, Leader Johnson, explain why you think it's okay for American citizens to be arrested and detained without any due process. Explain it, just like you've got to explain why you want to keep the masks on, just like you can explain why people can be arrested without warrants. Explain it. Why?

But instead, we've heard just a quick immediate dismissal, because Republicans are afraid to negotiate. Our demands are not crazy demands. It's the kind of stuff that applies to police departments everywhere. We are not going out on a limb saying federal officers should have identification. We know what we're talking about when we say that the 4th amendment-which protects against unreasonable search and seizures-should be obeyed. This is middle school civics class stuff we're dealing with here. So, I am just astounded to hear Republicans like Johnson-and Republican Senators, some of them-say our proposals are somehow "political" or "non-starters."

Political? Republicans think it's political and non-starters say police should identify themselves? Explain that to America. It's not political, it's the Constitution and it's the moral and right thing to do in a democratic country. It's about people's basic rights and basic public safety. If Republicans don't like our proposals, pouting is not going to make the chaos in the streets go away-the need to explain why to the American people. Let me say that again: if Republicans don't like our proposals, pouting is not enough-they need to explain why to the American people, because they don't have a good explanation. They're just afraid of the right wing, some of those crazies on the right who actually do want to rip up the Constitution.

The truth is, Republicans cannot explain why our ideas are extreme, because they know deep down that what ICE is doing is indefensible, so they're stuck. If Republicans think it's political or extreme to say ICE agents ought to identify themselves, again, explain why to the American people. Johnson, explain why it's okay to do it in Louisiana but it's not okay to do it here, to have police identify themselves. If Republicans think that its political or extreme to say it's wrong for ICE agents to raid churches and schools and hospitals, oftentimes with no warrant and no cooperation with local police, they should explain why. If Republicans think the status quo with ICE is okay, they should back it up and say so to the American people.

Now, most Americans, we Democrats, we support law enforcement. We support our police. They have hard jobs; they put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. But Americans don't support the kind of abuses ICE is committing with impunity across communities. And police officers don't like it either, it gives them a bad name. ICE's behavior is not law enforcement, it's thuggery. ICE's behavior is not law enforcement-it's thuggery. It puts people in danger. President Trump knows things have to change. He should lean on Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats and deliver.

This is a gut-check moment for the Congress. Americans expect nothing short of real, meaningful, commonsense legislation. Americans expect us to rein in ICE and end the violence, which we can do right here if only the Republicans cooperate and do the right thing.

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