End roving patrols, no secret police, NO cave on masks - Sen. Schumer (hours ago) details Dems' demands for ICE, DHS
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, joins Morning Joe to discuss a joint letter from him and from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune outlining proposed reforms to DHS and ICE.
watch:
(excerpt)
Leader Schumer:
Senate Democrats. We're united from one end of our party to the other and we put together some simple common sense proposals that are done every day that are used by police forces and local sheriffs everywhere.
They have three basic objectives. One is to end these roving patrols. You can't just pick someone up on the street, not uh and put them in a dark prison without any kind of warrant. You can't bust someone's door down without any kind of warrant. That's the Constitution. Yet, that's what's going on despicably on the streets of Minnesota and other places.
We're also saying in terms of the roving patrols, some places are off limits, schools, houses of worship, election places. We're saying there shouldn't be racial profiling when they pick people up. And we're saying they can't take an American citizen and lock them up without a warrant, without due process.
The second area we're talking about is accountability and enforcement. These we need a code of force, a force code that's used by states, by police officers all over the states. When you use force and when you don't. We need real training for these people. When you watch the videos, you see they're totally untrained. They're brutal. They're nasty.
We also need to have enforcement that you can go to court and stop this ICE force from doing things. And we need the local and uh uh state governments to be able to force them to do certain things they can't do.
And finally, and maybe most important, no secret police. These guys go around, these people go around with masks. It makes them more brutal. They're never accountable. No one even knows who they are.
There should be cameras. Everyone should have cameras and there should be rules on how they use them. And they have to have regular uniforms, not all the stuff they're wearing. But we cannot have secret police...
There should be no masks except in the most of unusual circumstances. You know, if some guy's picture was put up by a terrorist group or something... but there should be no masks.
...Johnson, the speaker has said he wants to keep the mask. Well, I guarantee you when you go down to his district in Louisiana, the sheriffs and police are identified, fully identified with their name and uh, their number.
That has to happen across America to prevent these rogue forces from terrorizing cities. No secret police. No, no, no, no secret police. I can't even believe we're saying that in America. It's so unamerican. I understand the the administration has expressed concerns about doxing and things like that. I I I want you to like me uh no masks, no secret police - and also an understanding that that that we'll do whatever everyone will do whatever we can to protect them from doxing and from from other things if there are activists that try to to bring harm to them.
But but police officers don't wear masks. Sheriffs don't wear masks. They shouldn't wear masks. And they face the the local police, the local sheriffs face the same problems that these guys have in terms of the potential of doxing and they're able to deal with it but not mask up.
This is just incredible. The American people are asking the Republicans and asking Johnson, why are you against ident police having identities? Why are you against Why are you still saying they should wear masks? They don't have a good answer. They've had no good answers to any of these questions.
And as you said, even President Trump is realizing that they're on the wrong side of this issue. They're on the wrong side morally. They're on the wrong side in in terms of just being an American because we in America have always had these values, have always had this and these rogue this rogue uh ICE group is just terrorizing our cities and violating the constitution every minute they're on the streets and it's showing up in the polling as you say...
watch:
= new reply since forum marked as read
...as are the performative expectations.
But, of course, the real jawboning gets done behind the scenes with the Democratic caucus - the leaders coming forward AFTER they've achieved as united a front as they can for what they propose or demand legislatively - because, of course, it's about the number of votes available and willing; the numbers lacking right now for Dems to advance anything on their own votes and iniative in the minority.
I only repeat this basic understanding of their challenges because so much of the angst directed at our Dems (who have already run and won actual elections against actual republicans) comes with demands for things they just can't do on their own right now.
And the calls for them to say this or that has to mean that republicans would give a damn; or else, they're just talking to ...us. I mean, they are elected leader by the people who agreed to present the demands Sen. Schumer just outlined. It's the collective will of the Senate, and neither leader is assumed by any of the Democrats they lead to be any sort of dictator.
It's not an election, it's governing, and I think a lot of those folks need to take a year and follow legislation through the committees to passage to get a better idea of the challenges - all of them solved in a large part by getting the leaders a MAJORITY to work with. 
It's almost like some people want to hurt Democratic leaders, isn't it? Why would they do that?
I think we all know the answer, really. I'm very weary of seeing constant attacks on Schumer, in particular.
Did you know he was Jewish? 
It's such a knee-jerk reaction - anything Democratic leaders do that doesn't include hauling people off in chains means they are spineless, weak, Turd Way, blah, blah, blah.
