On March 19, 2026, during another appearance on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claimed the solution to the DHS funding/shutdown fight — is to not fund ICE. Democrats want to defund ICE because they do not want to enforce immigration laws. They also do not want their future voters deported.
Raskin said:
I mean, we’ve got the solution ready right now and a discharged petition to go with it. Simply to say, first of all, let’s take the parts of the government like Coast Guard and FEMA and TSA that are not part of the debate and let’s fund them immediately. And Speaker Johnson should just come along with the Democrats on that proposal. Um, we should make sure that Americans who work in all those agencies are getting paid. Then we’ve got to deal with the problem of ICE, uh, and, you know, the fact that American citizens cannot be shot in the face because they’re exercising their First Amendment rights. Uh, it’s an agency that has been out of control and the whole country saw it in Minneapolis and we’re seeing it in communities across the country…
They can follow the law. They can follow the Constitution.
Illegal aliens and anti-ICE protesters are the ones not following the law and the Constitution, Jamie. Why don’t you ever call for them to follow our laws? If foreigners and anti-ICE protesters followed the law, we would not have these confrontations, violent clashes, or the need for escalated federal enforcement in places like Minneapolis. Instead of demonizing ICE agents who are doing their jobs under dangerous conditions, perhaps focus on the root causes: illegal entry, obstruction of federal operations, assault on officers, and resistance that turns deadly.
Enforce our immigration laws to thee fullest, deport all illegal aliens, and stop glorifying lawbreakers as “First Amendment heroes.”
If ICE is left out of the bill now, it could stay unfunded for a long time — if it gets funded at all. And that is exactly what Democrats want: to delay or deny ICE funding for as long as possible. For decades, Democrats have shouted “defund ICE” and “abolish ICE.” This is simply that agenda in legislative form.
And it is not a First Amendment right to impede ICE operations, drive vehicles at ICE agents, attack ICE agents, or resist lawful authority. If you ever do those things to law enforcement, getting shot is a possibility. It is also not a First Amendment right to be in the USA illegally.
Lawless Democrats and illegal aliens are the ones out of control, not ICE.
Fund ICE! Defund Congress and illegal aliens!
#TermLimits on Congress
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