WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) joined Meet the Press NOW to demand that Kristi Noem and ICE be held accountable for terrorizing American communities. Below are excerpts from the conversation:

On DHS Funding Negotiations and Democrats’ Fight For Accountability:

"[Chuck Schumer] is absolutely aligned with House Democrats, and we are going to be part of these negotiations. The president doesn't get to make that call. We are an equal branch here in Congress, and we represent the American people.

"We have an understanding of what is going to happen: We are going to have accountability for ICE. We are going to make sure they are no longer a secret police force in our communities. And we are going to end roving patrols where people are being targeted because of the neighborhood they live in, the color of [their] skin, the accent they might have. And we are going to make sure that ICE is held accountable.

"These are the things we have heard from the American people that they want to see. They want security in their communities, and they want the end of this violence and chaos."

On the Urgent Need for Real Reforms for ICE: 

"We are a hard no on continuing funding this agency that has put out this rogue paramilitary force and is inflicting terror and violence. Without guidelines? We are not going to continue to fund this operation.

"This should not be hard for the administration, for DHS, for my colleagues across the aisle here. These are fundamental principles that apply to every other law enforcement agency in this country.

"When Speaker Mike Johnson goes home to Louisiana, his police are not wearing masks. They use judicial warrants if they want to get in and search someone's home. They do not racially profile and pick up people on the streets. They are not having immigration enforcement pick up and detain, and sometimes, even deport American citizens.

"These are fundamental protections for the people of this country. They were sold that this program was going to be about deporting the 'worst of the worst.' And what has happened is we have seen violence, excessive force, and even the execution of American citizens at the hands of this rogue agency."

On Republicans' Refusal To Prioritize Americans’ Security:

"These are fundamental things. Let's just take the warrant requirement that Speaker Mike Johnson has already rejected. That is in our Constitution. This isn't some new legal theory. What is the outrageous thing here is that ICE is shredding our constitutional rights in front of us and inflicting great violence and terror on law-abiding people, including American citizens.

"Choose Americans, choose their security, choose their ability to be safe in their homes and communities and schools and churches and hospitals. That's what we're asking.

"If they want to put at risk our Coast Guard, our TSA agents, FEMA – with the storms that we are having – because they are unwilling to apply what we ask of any other law enforcement agency to ICE and Border Patrol, that is on them."

On Mike Johnson's Dismissal of the Constitution:

"We just had the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives saying we don't have time to comply with the U.S. Constitution, which he took an oath to defend. He holds himself out as a constitutional lawyer. It is outrageous those comments that he just made.

"This is fundamental. This is in our Declaration of Independence that this exact sort of attack on people's homes and property by law enforcement, used as a political arm, is how we got the Fourth Amendment and protections for that.

"There's another quote from him where he says that a judicial warrant is another layer of bureaucracy. These are bedrock principles for our country, for our personal liberty, and for the security of our communities.

"If Mike Johnson can't agree to that, he should really rethink his position as speaker of the House."

On Trump’s Plot to Rig Elections:

"I think we have to do every single thing in our power to secure our elections.

"When Donald Trump says these things, tries to walk them back as if it was an exaggeration or joking, he's usually telling us exactly where he is going.

"We know that he is looking at the same polls that we are. We know that he is hearing the same thing from the American people. He told them he would lower their cost of living, make an economy where they can see success for themselves. He has done just the opposite. And now, he has layered on these assaults on communities, on American citizens, on law-abiding people.

"We have watched Renee Good and Alex Pretti be shot and killed by ICE officers and Border Patrol in our communities. And so now is the time for us to come together and make sure that, as he sees his electoral power slipping, that we do everything we can to not let these ICE raids come and intimidate voters in November.

"That we are protecting our election. That we are demanding answers to what happened in Fulton County in Georgia last week. What was that? 

"And we must do everything to combat the misinformation he puts out about election security and stolen elections and protect the American people and our sacred right to vote from whatever he is going to come up with that will interfere with that come the midterms."

To view the complete conversation, click HERE. 

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