With Leverage on Their Side, Dems Lay Out Demands for Reining in ICE

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Congressional Democrats on Wednesday detailed the ICE reforms they want to see implemented before agreeing to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Taken together, they amount to a demand that Donald Trump’s administration obey the Constitution and that there be some modicum of accountability for the federal agents terrorizing Americans and immigrants alike. Naturally, the GOP called them a nonstarter.

If you believe the pundit class, that means that the two parties have reached an impasse. We believe that could not be further from the truth.

But before we explain why, let’s look at these demands in more detail.

In a letter to their Republican counterparts, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) list 10 “common sense solutions” that they believe will allow ICE to still achieve Trump’s stated objective of going after the “worst of the worst” without employing Gestapo-like tactics.

First among them is to end the practice of indiscriminate arrests. While the administration claims that it’s conducting “targeted enforcement actions,” that is clearly not the case. Instead, ICE agents are rounding up random brown people wherever they come across them.

Specifically, the Democrats demand that federal officers not enter private property without a judicial warrant and that they make sure that people being put in immigrant detention centers are not American citizens.

Next, these government agents need to be better trained, take off their masks, identify themselves, use body cameras, and abide by a “reasonable use of force policy.” They should coordinate their activities with local authorities, and, if they break the law, be prosecuted.

In addition, detention centers must meet basic standards, and members of Congress must be allowed to inspect them.

Furthermore, the Democrats demand that the government not create a database of those participating in lawful protests and other activities protected by the First Amendment.

And, finally, enforcement activities in sensitive locations like schools, medical facilities, churches, polling places, and courts must be prohibited.

All of these are changes that should not be overly controversial. The Constitution should be observed, the government shouldn’t operate a paramilitary force, and, if federal agents don’t follow the law, they should be held accountable.

The GOP doesn’t think so.

“Democrats’ newest proposal is a ridiculous Christmas list of demands for the press,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), the lead negotiator on the Republican side. “This is NOT negotiating in good faith, and it’s NOT what the American people want.”

Except, that is exactly what the American people want.

A new poll from Wednesday shows that they really don’t like how Trump is handling immigration, and what used to be one of his strengths has now become a liability.

ICE has no legitimate reason to operate near polling places because there is not one single shred of evidence supporting the Republican lie that noncitizens are voting in great numbers.

Fifty-nine percent of them disapprove of how Trump is dealing with the issue while only 38 percent approve. An even wider margin favors giving undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship rather than deporting them.

Six out of 10 Americans think the administration is treating these immigrants too harshly, twice as many as those who believe their treatment is “about right.”

It should be noted that if Republicans weren’t members of a cult, and didn’t support anything and everything Trump does, these numbers would look even more lopsided.

For example, 65 percent of independents disapprove of the president’s handling of the issue of immigration, 68 percent believe undocumented immigrants are treated too harshly, and the same number disapprove of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws.

Things look even worse for the administration when it comes to the execution-style killing of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old American who was murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis last month. By a margin of 62-22, voters felt that his killing was unjustified. These numbers are even more pronounced for women and independents.

In addition, by a large majority, Americans don’t think that the Trump administration has given “an honest account” of what happened. 

It should be noted that, once again, the numbers are skewed because 60 percent of Republicans inexplicably think that the administration is honest in the face of all evidence showing that this isn’t the case.

The one question on which even Trump voters side with the rest of the country is whether there should be an independent investigation of the shooting. Overall, 80 percent of Americans feel that way, including a majority of Republicans.

Furthermore, 6 out of 10 of them support anti-ICE protests and think the immigrant hunters should leave Minnesota.

As for some of the Democrats’ specific demands, 92 percent of Americans feel that ICE agents should wear body cameras, while only a little more than one-third think they should be allowed to wear masks.

In a highly polarized country, these are damning numbers.

And, to get back to Sen. Britt’s comment: It is quite clear what the American people want, and it’s much more in line with what Democrats are calling for.

Let’s also quickly look at her accusation that Democrats are not negotiating in good faith.

Because, somewhere in the US right now, an ICE agent with an itchy trigger finger is putting on a mask and strapping on a gun as though he is about to patrol Fallujah.

In a social media post, Britt pointed to the demand that ICE should not operate near polling locations.

“Democrats just admitted they think illegal aliens need to be protected at polling places,” she said. “Why exactly would illegal aliens be at polling places?”

While that may pass for logic in the GOP, it’s actually a bad faith argument. 

ICE has no legitimate reason to operate near polling places because there is not one single shred of evidence supporting the Republican lie that noncitizens are voting in great numbers.So why would ICE agents be there? To intimidate and harass legitimate voters, that’s why.

And that is also why Republicans don’t want to place any restraints on their secret police.

So, does that mean we are at an impasse, like all those political commentators claim? Hardly.

Sure, right at this moment, Trump and GOP lawmakers might believe that they can hold the line and allow their masked goons to operate outside the law.

But the inevitable result of that course of action is that the next American being murdered, the next 5-year-old being kidnapped, the next citizens being dragged out of their car and roughed up, the next toddler dying in a freezing detention center, or the next video highlighting ICE’s lawlessness is just around the corner.

It’s very clear where public opinion is right now and where it’s headed.

Republicans cannot make Americans unsee the video of Pretti being executed for peacefully filming ICE agents and then helping a woman who was assaulted.

And they can’t make them unhear senior administration officials blaming the victim and calling him a “domestic terrorist.”

If someone doesn’t hold these masked thugs to account and make them follow the Constitution — which is essentially all the Democrats are calling for — these kinds of things will keep happening.

And with each incident, Americans will feel more negatively toward Trump and the GOP… as the midterms will inch closer and closer.

Democrats must realize that they are holding all of the cards here, and yielding even an inch from their demands would be a dereliction of duty.

They just have to wait until the next atrocity is revealed.

Therefore, their best course of action would be to just keep passing short-term stopgap measures to ensure that agencies like FEMA continue to be funded.

Because, somewhere in the US right now, an ICE agent with an itchy trigger finger is putting on a mask and strapping on a gun as though he is about to patrol Fallujah.

Somewhere in America, a toddler is waking up, not knowing that he is about to be separated from his parents and whisked away to a detention center — maybe the one with the measles outbreak.

Somewhere in Minnesota, a protester is getting ready to document ICE’s atrocities and will capture one of them on tape and/or be beaten (or worse) while exercising her First Amendment rights.

And, hopefully, somewhere in Washington, DC, a whistleblower is compiling proof showing how this administration tramples on the constitutional rights of citizens and immigrants alike.

The point is this: As damning as recent polls have been for Trump and the GOP, things will only get worse for the administration unless ICE is radically reformed.

Democrats need to understand that and not give an inch. In fact, they should keep adding demands every week — not just because it’s the right thing to do but also because they owe it to Pretti, Renee Good, and all of the other brave Minnesotans who are risking their lives to document what will happen if Trump succeeds in turning the US into an authoritarian regime.