New York, NY—Today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York laid out the Senate Democrats’ demands for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill in order to avoid a potential government shutdown: “1. End roving patrols, tighten rules on warrants 2. Enforce accountability & maintain unified code of conduct for agents 3. No more masks & require bodycams.” Today, more Americans support abolishing ICE than keeping it, and the events in Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles make clear that compromise with DHS is impossible.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“In a moment of national crisis – as ICE has murdered Keith Porter, Renee Nicole Good, Silverio Villegas González, Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdés and Alex Pretti – the American people are looking for conviction from Congress. Senator Schumer correctly called ICE and Border Patrol ‘state-sanctioned thuggery’ and that those agencies ‘violate Constitutional rights all the time.’ But his solutions are mealy-mouthed – rather than clear demands that reflect the people’s desire for real safety in their communities. Senator Schumer must unambiguously call for ICE and Border Patrol to get out of our cities, an end to racial profiling, and the cancellation of all 287(g) agreements between ICE and local law enforcement. The victims of ICE’s terror deserve a fight from the opposition party, not continued concessions to a federal government that continues to murder people in the street. Enough is enough. The Trump administration is waging literal war against American cities, Schumer and the U.S. Senate must stand up and fight back now!”