LEADER JEFFRIES: "ICE NEEDS TO BE REFORMED IN A DRAMATIC, BOLD, MEANINGFUL AND TRANSFORMATIONAL MANNER"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press conference, where he emphasized that the DHS funding bill should not move forward without dramatic reforms to stop ICE from brutalizing the American people.
LEADER JEFFRIES: This is day five of the Trump-Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Why are we in this moment? It's because Republicans have decided that they would rather shut down FEMA, shut down TSA and shut down the Coast Guard than get ICE under control.
The American people know that ICE needs to be reined in. We believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to make your life more affordable, not to brutalize or kill American citizens in cold blood, like Renee Nicole Good or Alex Pretti, or to violently target law-abiding immigrant families, which we know is taking place all across America. The American people are horrified at what they have seen. But instead of fixing the problem, which Democrats have given our Republican colleagues an opportunity to do, they've shut down crucial parts of the Department of Homeland Security.
It is our view that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just and it should be humane. That's not what's happening right now in the United States of America. And that's why ICE needs to be reformed in a dramatic, bold, meaningful and transformational manner. And if that doesn't happen, the DHS funding bill will not move forward.
Full press conference can be watched here.