"Senate and House minority leaders Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) subtly weakened their already tepid demands for ICE reforms in a press conference on Wednesday - before negotiations with Republicans even started. In a press conference about the Democrats' demands, the two leaders reiterated their belief that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal immigration agents should not be allowed to wear masks. But they both qualified their statements by saying that this prohibition isn't sweeping."
""Certainly I think there's agreement that no masks should be deployed in an arbitrary and capricious fashion," said Jeffries. "They need identification and no masks, except in extraordinary and unusual circumstances," said Schumer later in the conference, describing masked, unidentified agents as "secret police.""
"Schumer reiterated this call in an interview with MS NOW on Thursday, saying, "There should be no masks, except in the most unusual of circumstances, you know, some guy's picture was put up by a terrorist group or something." His comment ignores, perhaps, that the Trump administration is seeking to characterize any dissidents as "terrorists," internal documentation has shown."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries softened previously stated demands for ICE reform by qualifying a ban on masks before negotiations with Republicans. Both leaders said federal immigration agents should not wear masks but limited the prohibition, allowing exceptions in extraordinary, unusual, or identification-required circumstances. Jeffries framed the restriction against arbitrary or capricious mask deployment. Schumer characterized masked, unidentified agents as "secret police" while also saying exceptions could apply in rare terrorism-related situations, and his comments noted concerns about labeling dissidents as "terrorists."
Read at Truthout
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]