TRANSCRIPT: After Voting Against DHS Funding Bill, Leader Schumer Calls On Republicans To Join Democrats And Pass Commonsense Reforms To Rein In ICE And End The Violence

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded Republicans get serious and work with Democrats to pass commonsense reforms to rein in ICE and end the violence. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

As you all know, from day one I've said, unless there are really strong, meaningful reforms to rein in ICE and stop the violence, there will not be Democratic votes to fund ICE and extend the awful status quo that now exists. Well, today, Senate Democrats made that point absolutely clear. For weeks, we've been pushing commonsense reforms, the very types of things that local police and sheriffs throughout America routinely follow. Today's strong vote was a shot across the bow to Republicans. Democrats will not support a blank check for chaos.

This vote today asked a simple question. Will you rein in ICE's abuses, or will you vote to extend the chaos? Republicans chose chaos, and the Democrats, we refused. Republicans chose to put a bill on the floor that ignored the abuses, ignored the outrage, ignored what the American people want overwhelmingly, and they failed to get the votes to avoid a shutdown at DHS. As we've said for weeks, if Republicans want to keep DHS funded, they need to get serious. They need to sit down. They need to negotiate in good faith, produce legislation that actually reins in ICE and stops the violence. And I'm proud of my caucus. Senate Democrats listened to the American people and stood together with one clear, strong voice. Enough is enough. We listened to the American people and stood together with that clear voice.

The American people are tired. They're tired of seeing these horrific videos. They turn your stomach, and 90% of Americans say they've seen them. The videos of Americans beaten, snatched off the streets, treated like they have no rights. These videos are reminiscent of what you see in dictatorships. The Americans are tired of masked agents conducting warrantless operations in their communities-secret police. They're tired of chaos, secrecy, and zero accountability. That is not what law and order looks like. And Republicans simply cannot pretend that this outrage does not exist. It's their responsibility now to step forward, heed the calls of the American people, and work with us to pass real reform.

The path forward is simple: negotiate serious guardrails that protect Americans, that rein in ICE, and stop the violence. Americans are watching what's happened in neighborhood after neighborhood across the country. They know it's wrong. They know it's excessive. And they want Congress, the Senate, to fix it. Senate Democrats showed up today for Americans. We did what they're asking. We did our job today. Now Republicans have to do theirs. And as you know, we have asked for very simple objectives that are overwhelmingly supported by the American people and by a very good chunk of Republicans. I've looked at the polling data. While the MAGA Republicans don't support it-they must like what ICE is doing, Lord knows why-non-MAGA Republicans, about 35%, 40% of Republicans support us. The public is crying out for change.

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