On Thursday on MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said Congress will shut down the Department of Homeland Security if there are no meaningful reforms to the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Blumenthal said, “Rather than making this issue about a government shutdown, about failing to pay military families or making air passengers safe, we’re taking off the table the government shutdown and we’re going to, frankly, force real reform. And it has to be a lot more than putting lipstick on a pig. Oh, you’re very colorful. And now and he it has to be real, lasting, enduring legislative reform that applies the same standards and practices that constrain any local or state police.”
He continued, “When I was attorney general of the state of Connecticut for 20 years. There was a right of action against state and local police. They had to wear identification. They couldn’t wear masks. They had to wear body cameras. And the idea of their being above the law, reckless and lawless, the way ICE would have been unimaginable. And my Republican colleagues have to just look at their local law enforcement and listen to their constituents, and they will come around to these reforms. There’s nothing novel or original about them.”
