Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy joined the hosts of “Morning Joe” on Wednesday to discuss the pending potential funding shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security and the need for greater ICE reforms in America, warning that legal immigrants’ rights are being violated “every single day.”
“Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski began by asking Murphy whether any of the Trump administration and Border Czar Tom Homan’s promises to lower the temperature in Minnesota have been followed through on. “Yesterday morning, ICE officers were patrolling bus stops in Minneapolis, hunting children,” Murphy responded. He then mentioned 5-year-old Liam Ramos, who was captured along with his father in Minnesota and sent to a Texas immigration detention center, a facility which Murphy noted was closed due to a measles outbreak.
“There are still 3,000 ICE officers in Minneapolis, more police officers than there are in Minneapolis today. ICE is still removing young children from their homes all throughout this country. Nothing has changed,” Murphy said. “Tom Homan hasn’t changed any of the practices. That’s why the American people are just basically saying to us in Congress, ‘Do not fund this agency unless they change what they’re doing, unless they stop terrorizing families and young children.’”
“In Minneapolis, in a place like Texas, you are having the law violated for legal immigrants to this country every single day,” Murphy continued. “This administration is just making up the law when it comes to our immigration statutes. It’s just another sign of how lawless they are and how they do not give a crap about either the statute or the Constitution.”
Murphy told “Morning Joe” viewers it is imperative for Democrats like him in the Senate and the House to refuse to provide further funding to DHS until the agency’s immigration policies are changed. “We have a constitutional obligation to only fund an administration that’s acting lawfully,” Murphy explained.
The Connecticut Senator was subsequently asked what else Democrats can actually do to combat ICE and Border Patrol agents’ actions right now. “As you know, Republicans run the House and the Senate, so in order to pass a piece of legislation that stops this lawlessness, ultimately we need Republicans to join us,” Murphy responded. “Right now, they are refusing to do anything to reign in ICE.”
“We can mobilize the public, because Republicans will only come to the table to stop these abuses if they believe that they’re going to lose an election this November,” Murphy continued. “We’ll be working to help mobilize people to hold Republicans accountable, and maybe that will force them to the table.”
“We are not powerless, and my colleagues shouldn’t act like they are powerless,” the Democratic senator concluded. “We should not decide to fund this agency based upon window dressing reforms. We have power to deny this department funding if they are going to continue to abuse and terrorize our kids.”
