In his Feb. 15 appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a masterclass in political gaslighting.
He branded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “rogue force,” “out of control,” and “almost trained … to be nasty and mean and cruel.”
Schumer decried “masked agents conducting warrantless operations,” “roving patrols” that “bash in” doors, “secret police” tactics “reminiscent of what you see in dictatorships,” and bemoaned “chaos, secrecy, and zero accountability.”
He tied this to isolated incidents in Minneapolis involving the deaths of U.S. citizens during enforcement actions, framing ICE as terrorizing “innocent Americans” and “everyday” immigrant families.
This is all nonsense.
But there’s more: Democrats, he insisted, demand “common sense” guardrails, which include no ICE agents wearing masks, body cameras always on, judicial warrants for every entry, an end to roving patrols, and stricter use-of-force policies.
Democrats insist on these demands, and have partially shutdown the government by refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and several other federal agencies.
Schumer’s portrayal inverts reality: ICE is not a rogue agency but a federal law enforcement body executing the immigration statutes passed by Congress and directed by the elected president.
Its methods –– administrative warrants for civil removal orders, tactical gear including masks for officer protection amid a documented 1,300%+ surge in assaults and 8,000% increase in death threats since the current enforcement push began — are standard for high-risk operations.
FBI hostage rescues, DEA raids on fentanyl labs, and even local SWAT teams routinely employ masks, anonymity, and dynamic entries when facing armed threats or doxxing risks.
Local police are “unmasked” in routine traffic stops, but they do not regularly confront transnational cartels, MS-13 affiliates, or activist networks that publish officers’ home addresses.
Schumer’s selective outrage ignores that other agencies operate under similar “standards of force” without being labeled secret police.
The Minneapolis cases, while tragic, do not represent systemic “violence” or “terrorizing”; they are outliers in operations overwhelmingly targeting individuals with final removal orders or criminal histories.
Enforcing immigration law is existential to U.S. sovereignty.
Unrestricted illegal immigration erodes the social contract, depresses wages for low-skilled American workers, and burdens taxpayers with education, health care, and welfare costs estimated in the tens of billions annually.
The Democrats’ insistence on hobbling ICE is not about accountability. It is a transparent cover for their strategic embrace of unrestricted illegal immigration.
Blue states like California and New York are hemorrhaging native-born residents to red-state havens with lower taxes, better governance, and economic opportunity.
Without a continuous influx of noncitizens — legal and illegal — states like California face accelerating population decline, lost federal funding, and, crucially, fewer House seats in the decennial apportionment.
The Constitution counts “persons” for representation, not just citizens, so every illegal immigrant in a sanctuary city inflates California’s delegation that aggregates to extra electoral power.
Democrats’ resistance to enforcement, sanctuary policies, and opposition to citizenship questions in the census are not humanitarian — they are raw power preservation.
Schumer continuously asserts that Americans overwhelming support his “common sense” demands, in yet another attempt to justify the partial shutdown.
Recent polling does show some support for this narrative, with a majority calling ICE tactics too aggressive.
Of course, the media have consistently mischaracterized isolated incidents and framed these incidents as ICE terrorizing “innocent Americans,” so it is no mystery why overall dissatisfaction with ICE’s enforcement methods has increased.
Add to that the shadowy hand of left-wing mega-donors pulling strings behind these anti-ICE protests, turning what looks like spontaneous outrage into a well-oiled machine aimed at crippling border security.
Polls often reflect the noise, not the merits, and the left has been diligent about creating as much noise as possible.
Americans are not turning soft on illegal immigration; they are reacting to politicized and overdramatized tragedy in real time.
It is incredible that a major political party is openly siding with criminal aliens over the safety, wages, housing access, and sovereignty of American citizens.
Vigorous ICE enforcement is not “nasty” –– it is necessary restoration of order.
The American people rejected open-border chaos in 2024; Americans should not be gaslighted into believing that ICE or the Trump administration has crossed some unacceptable line.
Hardworking American taxpayers who play by the rules deserve borders that work, laws that mean something, and representatives who put the safety and prosperity of citizens above crass political gain.
Linda Denno is the associate dean of Academic Affairs & Administration at the University of Arizona College of Applied Science and Technology.
