Democrats are diving forcefully into the immigration battle, dismissing considerations about political backlash to confront President Trump instantly on a polarizing subject that ranks among the many president’s strongest fits within the eyes of voters.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is main the cost. Not solely has he waged an animated protection of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who’s dealing with federal fees following a latest scuffle with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers exterior a migrant detention heart in New Jersey, however he’s additionally demanding that the masked ICE officers concerned within the fracas — and Trump’s broader mass deportation marketing campaign — be publicly recognized.
“Every single ICE agent who is engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that,” Jeffries informed reporters within the Capitol.
“This is America,” he added. “This is not the Soviet Union. We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified.”
The decision drew fast howls from officers with the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) and different Republicans, who’ve long-accused Democrats of siding with individuals within the nation illegally over the rule of regulation — a serious theme of Trump’s profitable marketing campaign final 12 months. Lots of the GOP critics are accusing Democrats of placing the protection of federal regulation enforcement officers in jeopardy.
“We take threats to law enforcement very seriously. As the state leading the nation in immigration enforcement, FL will not sit idly by and allow agents from DHS/ICE and/or state and local agencies to be targeted,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) posted on X, linking to Jeffries’s feedback.
DeSantis stated he’s instructed Florida regulation enforcers to be looking out for any “doxxing” campaigns geared toward regulation enforcers, and to reply rapidly.
“Sabotaging the work of those in the immigration enforcement arena will not stand!” he wrote.
Capitol Hill Republicans are piling on. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) this week launched laws designed to protect federal regulation enforcers from doxxing. Violators might face 5 years in jail.
The pushback has completed little to dissuade Jeffries, who on Thursday doubled down on his identification push, questioning why these concerned in Trump’s mass deportation marketing campaign ought to get pleasure from privileges of anonymity that others in regulation enforcement don’t.
“It seems to me that the officials at the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, should be held to the same standards as every other part of law enforcement in terms of transparency,” he stated.
The technique has its dangers.
Trump has constructed his political model round an “America First” message that helped propel him into the White Home in 2016 and once more in 2024. His “big, beautiful bill” working its manner via Congress consists of, as a central function, an immigration crackdown that helped usher the invoice via the Home final month. And whereas Trump’s approval ranking is underwater throughout nearly each main subject, together with the financial system, latest polls point out that his method to immigration is the only real exception, profitable extra supporters than detractors.
Nonetheless, the Democrats’ aggressive pushback towards Trump’s insurance policies is a transparent signal that they’re not shying away from the immigration subject, whatever the potential pitfalls. And the de-masking of ICE brokers is only one entrance of a much wider battle they’re taking on this 12 months.
In latest weeks, Democrats have additionally rallied behind immigrants deported with out due course of, together with a Maryland resident who was mistakenly despatched to El Salvador. They’ve staged public protests exterior migrant detention facilities, just like the one in Newark that led to McIver’s arrest. And high Democrats are up in arms after DHS brokers stormed into the district workplace of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and handcuffed a staffer with accusations that aides had been “harboring” immigration “rioters.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the senior Democrat on the Home Judiciary Committee, characterised the latter incident as “intolerable.”
“I’m relieved this situation was resolved, but DHS’s actions — first, in attempting to enter the office without a warrant or consent, and then proceeding to handcuff and detain a terrified young congressional staffer without cause — were the stuff of police in a banana republic or a gangster state,” Raskin stated in an e mail.
“This outrageous behavior reflects an alarming disregard for the law and a shocking disrespect for the people’s House and the lawmaking branch of government,” he continued. “DHS does not have the authority to barge into congressional offices with vague demands and arrest or intimidate legislative staffers. We will not tolerate such lawlessness.”
Raskin and Nadler are urgent Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), to stage hearings on the bizarre incident.
The newest battleline of the partisan immigration conflict arrived this week, when Trump introduced a journey ban affecting 12 nations. The make-up of the targets — largely African or Center Jap nations with largely non-white populations — weren’t neglected by Democrats, a few of whom accused the president of utilizing official coverage to advertise bigotry.
“Make no mistake: Trump’s latest travel ban will NOT make America safer,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote on X. “We cannot continue to allow the Trump administration to write bigotry and hatred into U.S. immigration policy.”
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) delivered an analogous warning.
“From his first Muslim Ban, Trump’s travel bans have always betrayed … the ideals and values that inspired America’s Founders,” Beyer posted on X. “Trump’s use of prejudice and bigotry to bar people from entering the U.S. does not make us safer, it just divides us and weakens our global leadership.”
