Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appeared Thursday on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” to call for greater governing of ICE agents and push back on the Trump administration’s targeting of local voting officials in Georgia and other swing states, declaring, “We’re not going to let them be intimidated.”
The New York senator’s remarks came after recent calls from President Trump to nationalize voting ahead of this year’s midterm elections and after National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was seen at an FBI raid of an election center in Georgia last week. “By seeking these election records for no reason, they are violating state laws, federal laws and the Constitution,” Schumer said.
“They’re trying to intimidate local elected officials,” he continued. “We have hundreds of thousands of local elected officials who are very proud. They go to the polling place and make the wheels of democracy work every election. We’re not going to let them be intimidated. We’re going to stand right by them.”
Schumer also pushed back on House and Senate Republicans’ increased efforts to pass the SAVE Act, which would require ID and proof of citizenship in the U.S. to register to vote. “It’s Jim Crow 2.0, and I called it Jim Crow 2.0 and the Right wing went nuts all over the internet,” Schumer said. “That’s because they know it’s true. What they’re trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the South for decades to prevent people of color from voting.”
“This is vicious and nasty, and I said to our Republican colleagues, ‘It will not pass the Senate. You will not get a single Democratic vote in the Senate,’” Schumer continued. “We’re not reviving Jim Crow all over the country.” You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself below.
During his “Morning Joe” appearance Thursday, Schumer additionally spoke about the impending funding shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security. According to the New York senator, the shutdown presents an opportunity for elected Democrats to make certain demands regarding the tactics and methods employed by DHS agents and, specifically, ICE agents.
“You can’t just pick someone up on the street 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,” Schumer said. “We need real training for these people. When you watch the videos, you see they’re totally untrained. They’re brutal. They’re nasty.”
“There should be no masks. There should be cameras,” Schumer added. “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. We cannot have secret police.”
“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 terms of just being an American,” the Senate Minority Leader concluded. “We in America have always had these values, and this rogue ICE group is just terrorizing our cities and violating the Constitution every minute they’re on the streets.”
