Democrats Fumble Away Their Edge on ICE Reforms

Republicans are trying hard to use the conflict with Iran to pressure Democrats to abandon their position on DHS funding. Why aren’t Schumer, Jeffries, et al. doing the same?

Leave it to congressional Democrats to squander a golden opportunity to rein in the Trump administration’s lawlessness even when the public is squarely on their side.

In the wake of the execution-style killing of one of their fellow citizens in Minnesota, the shooting death of another, and daily video evidence of the violent overreach of masked government agents, Americans were fed up with the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policy.

By last month, nearly two-thirds of them (including 71 percent of independents) said ICE had gone too far in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.

Sensing a massive opening, Democrats refused to give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) more money until it instituted a series of reforms that would put the rabid federal agents who had been terrorizing Minneapolis and other communities throughout the country (though mostly in blue states) on a leash.

Specifically, they demanded that Donald Trump’s goons end the practice of indiscriminate arrests, obtain judicial warrants before entering private properties, and stop putting citizens in immigrant detention centers.

In addition, Democrats called for ICE agents to be better trained, take off their masks, identify themselves, use body cameras, and abide by a “reasonable use of force policy.”

They also asked that further DHS funding be contingent on ensuring that detention centers meet basic standards and remain accessible to members of Congress for snap inspections, and they sought to prohibit the creation of a government database of people participating in lawful protests or other activities protected by the First Amendment.

Finally, they called for a ban of ICE enforcement activities near sensitive locations like schools, medical facilities, churches, polling places, and courts.

While those demands seem hardly controversial, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans rejected them, which led to a limited shutdown of DHS.

Not much has happened since then… apart from the Democrats failing to use the leverage they clearly had to keep putting pressure on the White House and the GOP.

Yes, ICE has been out of the news a bit after scaling down its Minnesota operation — which also resulted in an end to the mass protests in the Twin Cities — and lying low elsewhere across the country.

But it’s not as though Americans have forgotten the murder of Alex Pretti or the reactions of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin” for trying to help a woman who had been assaulted; while coming to her aid, Pretti was shot multiple times at point blank range.

Democrats also held a hearing with Americans who had suffered the consequences of ICE’s brutal tactics.

Still, they took the foot of the gas.

They should have kept pressing on and made sure that this issue stayed at the forefront of the minds of voters. After all, it’s not as though there is a shortage of things to be outraged about.

For example, it has since been revealed that ICE agents killed yet another American last year and that the administration’s version of events may once again not be adding up. Unfortunately, a witness who wanted to contradict the government’s account died in a car crash last month.

Or there was the case of a refugee from Myanmar who was found dead after he was released from custody and federal agents dropped him off at a coffee shop miles away from his home.

According to DHS, this man, who was nearly blind and did not speak English, had shown “no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance.”

He was blind and did not speak English.

Oh, and the coffee shop was closed when they abandoned the man in freezing temperatures.

With Democrats refusing to press their advantage to force the administration to make some much-needed reforms to its unpopular immigration and deportation policies, it’s not Republicans who are ratcheting up the pressure.

Since Trump started a war in the Middle East, or whatever the administration calls the expanding conflict in order to prevent having to obtain congressional approval, it is GOP lawmakers who are trying to make the Democrats the villains in this story.

Noting that the FBI had increased the threat level in response to the US attack on Iran, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) on Sunday called on Democrats to “end their dangerous game” and pass legislation to fund DHS to “ensure agencies can protect America during this dangerous time.”

To make sure everybody gets the picture, the lawmaker used the word “dangerous” three times in a brief statement, just so that people understand who is to blame when Trump’s actions cause problems at home.

Other Republicans echoed Scalise’s call for Democrats to abandon their quest to hold ICE accountable for the sake of homeland security.

“Democrats must end their political stunt and vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security immediately,” tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “Preserving our national security has never been more important.”

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) was even less subtle when he linked to his tweet an article about a mass shooting in Austin, TX, that is being investigated for potentially being an act of terrorism.

“Democrats need to end their partisan stunts right now and pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security before their obstruction puts American lives in danger,” he said. “The moment has never been more urgent.”

It should go without saying that these statements are hyperbolic and misleading.

First of all, it seems crazy to claim that “preserving our national security has never been more important.” World War II comes to mind, or 9/11.

More importantly, the vast majority of DHS employees are denoted “essential” and therefore remain on the job even during a shutdown.

You will probably have noticed that these Republicans all sound the same. That’s because they have message discipline.

They realize that the Democrats have wasted the chance to press their own advantage and are now playing the GOP’s ever-popular “we are patriotic and our opponents hate America” card.

And it might work.

Which is crazy, because it’s the Democrats who should be on the offensive here.

Photo credit:

Adam Fagen / Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

They are the ones who should push a narrative that says, “Republicans would rather make sure that ICE agents can anonymously keep terrorizing American communities than pass a bipartisan DHS funding bill.”

And then point out that 92 percent of voters want these agents to wear body cams and a large majority wants them to take off their masks.

None of their demands are unreasonable. They just want the Trump administration to abide by the Constitution and ensure that ICE is subject to the same rules as other law enforcement agencies. And non-MAGA Americans are overwhelmingly on their side.

Of course, they could also point out that DHS Secretary Noem is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on luxury jets and that this taxpayer money would be better spent on, you know, homeland security.

Or that DHS is diverting thousands of agents, including 90 percent of its Homeland Security Investigations division, to assist with the deportation effort.

At the very least, they should push back on the false assertions that this shutdown somehow cripples DHS.

But they aren’t doing any of that and, instead, are about to allow the GOP to turn this around on them.

It is baffling how bad Democrats are at this and no surprise that so many of their voters are disillusioned with their “leaders.”