Their proposals seem part of a larger plan to shut down ICE itself and impose a permanent version of the open-border policy American voters rejected.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, speaks during a news conference as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. listens, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. — to “Defund ICE ,” in effect — and impose a permanent version of the open-border policy American voters rejected in the last presidential election.
violently fighting the feds in the streets The Democrats’ plan includes requiring judicial warrants to arrest and detain illegal immigrants, a “no-mask” rule for ICE agents despite escalating vigilante violence targeting them, and supervisory authority over ICE for local politicians and officials. Hochul’s anti-ICE bill will backfire and encourage federal agents, warns Nassau County exec Bruce Blakeman In 2025, ICE arrested and deported approximately 600,000 illegal immigrants — most of whom, as former Department of Justice official and scholar John Lott has pointed out, were detained with administrative warrants issued by immigration judges under DOJ or the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration judges aren’t federal judges governed by Article III of the Constitution; they work in a separate, parallel system. The nation’s 94 federal district courts and approximately 677 federal judgeships are already overwhelmed with cases. The Democrats’ legislation would saddle each federal district court with an average of 6,000 or more warrant applications a year, if ICE kept up its 2025 pace — an impossible load for an already overburdened system. Some former DHS officials have argued that Article III Court judicial warrants are required under the Constitution, at least for in-home arrests — but this is hardly clear. In 1960, the US Supreme Court validated administrative warrants for at least some immigration enforcement actions, and in 2007 the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld their use for an in-home search for an escaped prisoner. The Democrats’ face-mask proposal also appears to be part of a larger Open Borders 2.0 approach intended to kneecap ICE. But the rioters in the streets have made clear their plans to shut down ICE through doxxing and mob violence. In such circumstances, masks are necessary for federal officers to do their jobs, and perhaps for their very survival. Finally, Democrats in Congress want to give state and local officials — the same ones who slander ICE as the “Gestapo” — the ability to effectively veto ICE enforcement by requiring local approval of ICE actions, or permitting state courts to issue civil and criminal enforcement actions against these federal agents. But in 2012, the US Supreme Court made clear in Arizona v. US that the federal government has sole jurisdiction on immigration enforcement — making the Democrats’ demand constitutionally dubious at best. To be sure, there are areas for reasonable bipartisan reform, including requiring agents to wear body cameras and issuing clearer standards on agents’ use of force.Much of the violence we’ve seen in Minnesota came after local officials stood down local law enforcement as mobs attacked federal officials. Sanctuary laws have become nullification policies, as state and local officials effectively reject federal laws mandated by voters and our democratic process. State and local officials, and their followers, should no more be able to nullify federal immigration laws than federal civil rights laws.We can achieve bipartisan common sense here: We can adopt necessary and reasonable oversight of ICE without hamstringing enforcement. Julian Epstein is the former chief counsel for the House Judiciary Democrats and the former staff director of the House Oversight Committee. Savannah Guthrie's brother-in-law was the last person to see mom Nancy before she vanished
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