Murray: “The American people need us to meet this moment. We need to rein in ICE and CBP. We need to call out the avalanche of lies. And most importantly, we need to stand up for our communities—because they are being terrorized by their own government.”
Murray: “If Republicans want Democratic votes to fix that—then they need to understand half-measures will not cut it. What Democrats are demanding is reasonable and it is necessary. None of what we are asking for is extreme for local law enforcement—so why don’t those basic standards apply to ICE. There’s no good answer. Sorry—but I don’t care if Stephen Miller wants a special force that’s empowered to beat up and detain or shoot whomever he doesn’t like. In America, we believe in due process. We believe in our Constitution. We believe in law and order—safe streets, law enforcement we can trust. If you don’t like that? Go to Russia.”
Murray: “If ICE and CBP do not want to be called secret police—then they should not be wearing masks and should be carrying identification 24/7. If they do not want to be accused of kidnapping people—then they should not be dragging people out of cars and houses without warrants. And if they do not want to be accused of being lawless—then they need to start following the law.”
Murray: “Democrats have made abundantly clear: we cannot continue funding a rogue Department without substantial reforms. Accountability at DHS must be written into law… We’ve put forth incredibly reasonable reforms… But we cannot kick the can down the road as Republicans want us to do. The time to rein in these rogue agencies is right now.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full floor speech***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took to the Senate floor to speak about ICE and CBP’s flagrant abuses of Americans’ basic constitutional rights—and the imperative for Congress to take action to rein in the agencies. She made clear that while she remains at the table to negotiate key reforms the American people are demanding, she will not support a stopgap funding bill to continue the unacceptable status quo, and she underscored that Republicans and the White House need to work with Democrats to finalize a bill that reins in ICE and CBP.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“What we have seen over the last many months is downright un-American: masked federal agents trampling people’s First, Second, and Fourth Amendment rights and more, breaking into people’s cars, teargassing protestors, using children as bargaining chips, and of course, killing American citizens in broad daylight.
“It is clear to just about everyone in every part of this country that—ICE and CBP are out of control—and must be reined in. Clear to everyone that is except maybe some Republicans in Congress.
“You know, for years, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have warned of government overreach and rogue federal agencies trampling Americans’ constitutional rights. They’ve gone to great lengths to speak out against ‘government tyranny’ when we ask mega corporations not to pollute. And you can bet they will scream to high heaven about ‘injustice’ and ‘government thugs’ when we ask billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes. Seriously! They will raise a racket for billionaires!
“But the truth is, the government tyranny Republicans long warned about is here—and many of them are just silent, they enabled it by cutting a $140 billion blank check for Secretary Noem to deploy masked ICE and CBP agents to terrorize our communities. ICE was spending beyond their funded level, so last summer Republicans handed Kristi Noem enough cash to fund an army.
“And she is using that blank check to send masked men going door-to-door asking for papers, charging into houses without a warrant, breaking car windows without a reason, staking out school zones, and dragging citizens and legal residents hundreds of miles away without so much as confirming their immigration status, or charging them with a crime.
“If Republicans are serious about their warnings on government tyranny, they must work with us to put an end to the insane attacks we’ve seen, including on Americans’ most basic rights. But right now, we still have some Republicans—who are seriously insisting masks have to stay on Trump’s secret police, and who are insisting DHS cannot be required to get judicial warrants before breaking into your home.
“We have a few Republicans acknowledging that the violence we’ve seen from ICE and CBP that must end, But we need to see more real, tangible progress to rein these agencies in through legislation—basic constraints upheld in law.
“Democrats are not asking for the moon—we are not trying to overhaul immigration laws. We are insisting on basic measures to protect our constitutional rights and hold these agencies accountable to some of the basic standards as local police.
“After all, if ICE and CBP do not want to be called secret police—then they should not be wearing masks and should be carrying identification 24/7. If they do not want to be accused of kidnapping people—then they should not be dragging people out of cars and houses without warrants. And if they do not want to be accused of being lawless—then they need to start following the law. But they have been ignoring law after law, and court after court.
“In a recent decision, a Bush-appointed judge—a former Scalia clerk!—in Minnesota appended a list of 96 court orders that ICE has violated. What else do you call that—except a rogue agency.
“The American people need us to meet this moment. We need to rein in ICE and CBP. We need to call out the avalanche of lies. And most importantly, we need to stand up for our communities—because they are being terrorized by their own government.
“It is not ‘targeted law enforcement’ when Trump sends 8,000 federal agents into one city—and has them go door-to-door. Especially not when agents literally tell people they are asking for papers solely because of how someone looks or speaks.
“It is not about our immigration laws when Trump is grabbing people who are following the law, people who have green cards in the mail, and even people who are U.S. citizens. It is not about stopping violent criminals when ICE is staking out schools and grabbing parents during pick up. In fact, just this week, we saw that the administration’s own data shows that only a tiny fraction of people they have detained are violent criminals.
“They have also taken military spouses, taken parents of Marines, they have even taken veterans. In fact, last week—they deported a veteran. Do my colleagues hear me here? Trump deported a veteran! Think about that. Sit with that. We cannot look away from what is happening in this country. Men who fought for our freedom—are being denied theirs. Being exiled from the country they risked their life for.
“Meanwhile, children—kids who have done nothing wrong—are having their parents snatched away from them or are being snatched up themselves in a cruel ploy to use them as leverage.
“Given how outrageous, how lawless, how heartlessly un-American, Trump’s crackdown has become, it’s clear why people across the country are demanding action. And I don’t just mean in opinion polls—though the polls do actually overwhelmingly support action to rein in ICE, and even Republican voters think ICE has gone way too far.
“But, I also mean people are demanding action in that great American way— protesting! Using their voice. Speaking out. Putting a spotlight on what ICE and CBP are doing to their friends and to their neighbors. And the Trump Administration’s response to that great American tradition—the First Amendment in action—has been about as unhinged, and un-American as it gets.
“The level of wanton violence and lawlessness we are seeing out of ICE and CBP is without comparison in recent U.S. history. This is the kind of stuff you expect out of Putin’s Russia. Agents are saying things to protestors like, ‘I will put a bullet in your head if you don’t shut up,’ or ‘You raise your voice… I erase your voice.’ And, Mr. President, the actions are even worse than the words.
“How many peaceful protestors have been tear gassed before Republicans think it’s a problem? How many children? Wasn’t the video of a drive-by gassing bad enough? What about the photo of the man pinned to the ground, getting sprayed in his face? How many car windows have to be shattered, and people dragged from their cars? No warrant—no nothing!
“Were you not outraged to see that woman on the way to a doctor’s appointment—dragged out of her vehicle for no reason? Were you not appalled to learn agents shattered a glass car window, dragged away a mother, and left a one-month-old baby in the back of the vehicle, blanket covered in glass shards? Were you not alarmed—to watch an agent point a rifle at the car window of someone sitting in their own driveway and bust out the window with a gun?
“How many people does ICE have to detain before Republicans stop sitting on their hands? How many kids do they have to tackle—like the young man at the Target that they slammed to the ground, marched off with, and then dropped him off miles away with no charges once they realized he was a U.S. citizen. There’s also the time they tackled a pregnant woman, or the time they marched a citizen out of his house in his underwear—in freezing weather.
“Agents have recklessly caused car accidents, only to arrest the person they ran into and then make things up. Agents have even tried to round up witnesses of their crimes and rush them out of state, and through deportation, before they can testify at a trial.
“How many people have to be murdered by federal agents in cold blood—until Republicans join us to stop this tyranny? And how many lies will Republicans tolerate? Because we have witnessed brazen, and dangerous, lies from this administration. They lied about Alex Pretti brandishing a gun—when he clearly never touched it. They lied about Renee Good trying to target agents with her car—when she was clearly just trying to drive away.
“They lied about a young woman ramming CBP agents before they shot her—only to drop the case against her. Newly released body cam footage shows the agent turned his wheel toward her vehicle. They said that an L.A. man was shot after he ‘weaponized his vehicle and began ramming law enforcement’—but body cam footage shows an agent’s gun go off by accident as he switched hands. They said someone in detainment died from suicide—when an autopsy found it was a homicide. They said someone got eight fractures in his skull from running into a wall on purpose—the man says he was beaten. Greg Bovino said he deployed tear gas on a crowd after someone threw a rock at him—only to admit the truth in court when confronted by video evidence.
“Mr. President, the list goes on, and on. And that’s just the lies we know about! Enough. Law enforcement cannot be lawless—but that’s exactly what we are seeing from ICE and CBP. And us Democrats have made abundantly clear: we cannot continue funding a rogue Department without substantial reforms. Accountability at DHS must be written into law.
“Now, my Democratic counterparts and I have been at the table the whole time. We’ve put forth incredibly reasonable reforms. Reforms that would increase accountability and transparency and compliance with constitutional rights. Reforms that do not impact DHS’s ability to detain convicted, violent criminals. And we remain committed and ready to land a funding bill that enshrines those reforms into law—and ensures FEMA, TSA, and other important functions get funded.
“But we cannot kick the can down the road as Republicans want us to do. The time to rein in these rogue agencies is right now. We cannot waste another moment—and if Republicans refuse to make the changes the American people are demanding, they are forcing a Republican shutdown of DHS.
“The chaos, the brutality—all of it has happened at the explicit direction of this President and a Republican Congress that wrote him a blank check for ICE and CBP.
“If Republicans want Democratic votes to fix that—then they need to understand half-measures will not cut it. What Democrats are demanding is reasonable and it is necessary. None of what we are asking for is extreme for local law enforcement—so why don’t those basic standards apply to ICE. There’s no good answer. Sorry—but I don’t care if Stephen Miller wants a special force that’s empowered to beat up and detain or shoot whomever he doesn’t like.
“In America, we believe in due process. We believe in our Constitution. We believe in law and order—safe streets, law enforcement we can trust. If you don’t like that? Go to Russia.
“So, Democrats are focused on getting a bill—but it has to be a bill that reins in the abuses we are seeing from ICE and CBP. And until a bill is negotiated, we cannot kick the can down the road and give license to Noem to continue the chaos with another CR that continues funding for ICE and CBP.
“Americans are demanding accountability, and we will settle for nothing less.
“And so, Mr. President, given the track record of lawlessness from ICE and CBP—which seems to be growing longer every single day. I will be voting no on the procedural vote today—and on Republicans’ inadequate proposal.
“The alleged withdrawal from Minneapolis is long-overdue—but it is not nearly enough to end the chaos and the violence we are seeing nationwide.
“We need real reform. We cannot let the Trump Administration act like things are business-as-usual when it is tear gassing peaceful protestors, detaining people in a complete violation of their rights, and even murdering citizens in cold blood. We cannot trust the same people who are lying about what is happening, to be truthful about accountability. We cannot trust the same administration that is purposefully trampling our rights, and causing this chaos—to end it.
“Late last night, we received more details on the White House’s proposal—and what’s clear at this point: it does not come close to addressing Americans’ grave concerns about how ICE and Border Patrol are operating. So, Mr. President, we need to see a lot more movement to rein in these rogue agencies.
“So, Congress has to do its job—and I will continue to negotiate in good faith to deliver the reform and accountability we need to see. But we have to stop this outrageous tyranny.”
###