Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Republicans To Work With Democrats To Rein In ICE, Overhaul DHS Funding, And Pass The Remaining Appropriations Bills

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today spoke on the Senate floor condemning the murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and urging Republican Leader Thune (R-SD) to avert a Republican-led government shutdown by separating out legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security from the full appropriations package. Leader Schumer called on Thune to bring the remaining five bills to the floor for immediate bipartisan passage and allow for common-sense negotiations over DHS funding. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

It has been four days since Alex Pretti was murdered in broad daylight by federal agents in Minneapolis, and there has been zero accountability from Donald Trump for this horrendous act.

Donald Trump said yesterday that he wants to de-escalate things in Minneapolis. But as of today, the Trump administration has taken zero meaningful action to make that happen. Zero.

As of this morning, ICE is still roaming the streets of Minneapolis with little restraint.

Operation Metro Surge—which is what ICE and Border Patrol call their surge in the city—is not slowing at all.

In fact, let me read a statement that came out yesterday from the Acting Assistant Chief of the Border Patrol, here’s what the Acting Assistant Chief of the Border Patrol said: “As of this report, Metro Surge is steady-state and expected to continue as planned.” Translation: stand back and stand by.

President Trump is not de-escalating things in Minneapolis as he claims—on the contrary, his administration is telling ICE and Border Patrol to stand back and stand by. That’s dangerous.

ICE needs to leave Minneapolis at once before another tragedy happens. It is the right thing to do, both for the safety of the residents of Minneapolis and law enforcement. But that is just one step of many.

Donald Trump has likewise failed to call out the vicious lies that his own administration told in the aftermath of Alex Pretti’s murder.

Yesterday on Fox News, a DHS spokesperson refused to deny the characterizations that Alex Pretti was a domestic terrorist. Refused to deny those characterizations.

It’s absurd. A simple answer for the DHS spokesman would have been “no he’s not a domestic terrorist. We were wrong. And it won’t happen again.” That’s what normal people with normal discourse—Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative –would do. But in this administration, where lying is their trademark and it spreads from the top down, lying is okay. It’s too much to ask of this administration to reject and retract this lie about the late Mr. Pretti. It’s a disgrace.

And as for President Trump. It is not enough for Donald Trump to meekly suggest he disagrees with the words of Stephen Miller calling Alex Pretti an assassin. Donald Trump is the president, and he needs to act like it. He needs to send a message and make an example of his deputies who deliberately lie to the country in moments of crisis. But you can see, again, Donald Trump lies all the time, we see it every night on the news. And so, all the people below him believe it's okay to lie too, even vicious lies like the one cast at Mr. Pretti.

Instead of holding his own administration accountable for lying about Alex Pretti, Donald Trump continues to blame Alex Pretti for his own death.

He said yesterday Pretti should not have been carrying a gun.

The Republican president seems to have forgotten the words of the Second Amendment: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Apparently, for Donald Trump, if you’re a Trump supporter, it’s okay to be a lawful gun owner—but if you’re against Donald Trump, it’s not, you don’t have that right.

Finally: it’s outrageous that Kristi Noem still has a job in the administration after federal officers murdered two American citizens in just two weeks.

And it is even more disgusting that on each occasion Kristi Noem lies about what took place.

For the good of the country, Donald Trump needs to fire Kristi Noem at once. Noem is a liar, Noem is incompetent at her job, and she must go.

Many Republicans here in Congress agree that Kristi Noem has lost the trust of the American people. Donald Trump needs to recognize that the tide has turned against her, and that her presence does far more harm than good at this point. Donald Trump needs to show Kristi Noem the door and send her packing.

Now, let’s turn to the Senate: tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to take the first procedural vote on a six-bill funding package.

The right way forward is simple: five of these bills are ready to go, and the Senate should pass them as soon as possible.

If Leader Thune agrees to split these bills—just as Speaker Johnson did in the House—Senate Democrats are ready to join Republicans in passing them and funding 96% of the federal government.

But the DHS bill—the sixth bill—needs more work in the aftermath of Pretti’s death, Good’s death, and the awful abuses we have seen from ICE across the country.

Until ICE is properly reined in and overhauled, the DHS funding bill doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate.

Let me say that again, so the White House hears it: until ICE is properly reined in and overhauled legislatively, the DHS funding bill doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate. Now, Leader Thune knows that.

So, I urge Leader Thune not to put all six bills including DHS on the floor, but rather to split them so we can focus on what can pass right now.

Time is short. We shouldn’t waste time on failed votes right now, or else the government will shut down.

I know both sides recognize we need to act in response to the awful tragedies that have taken place in Minneapolis. And senators, Democrats and Republicans, are talking and sharing ideas.

But given how little time we have left before the funding deadline, the first right step for the Senate is for Leader Thune to split the funding bills and put the five bills on the floor, 96 percent of federal funding, that can pass. It’s the right and expedient thing to do to ensure that most of the government is funded in time. And if Leader Thune doesn't do it, the shutdown of the government is on his back.

If Leader Thune puts those five bills on the floor and leaves DHS out, then we can have the necessary negotiation to rework the DHS bill and to add common-sense safeguards to rein in ICE’s very real and very dangerous abuses.

The bottom line is simple: the American people support law enforcement, they support border security, but they do not support ICE terrorizing our streets and killing American citizens.

ICE needs to be held to the same basic standards that any law enforcement agency is asked to follow.

Republicans must work with Democrats on legislative fixes to ensure ICE is reined in and overhauled to protect public safety.

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