During an interview Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) defended Democrats’ shutdown strategy and warned of the Trump administration’s voter suppression efforts.
Tapper opened by citing criticism from within Schumer’s own party. He noted that Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) had argued the shutdown would have “zero impact” on ICE, since both Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are already fully funded. Tapper pointed out that Democrats were using funding for other parts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), such as the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as leverage—while immigration enforcement itself continued uninterrupted.
Schumer pushed back against the criticism and laid out what he described as a two-point strategy. First, he said Democrats want new guardrails on ICE that would apply not only to future funding, but also to money already appropriated in earlier legislation. “That’s very important to us. That would rein in all of the ICE agents, no matter where they’re funded,” Schumer noted. Second, he argued that the shutdown could end immediately if Republicans simply agreed to the “common-sense” reforms.
“These are common sense,” Schumer said, comparing the proposals to policies already followed by local police departments. He described ICE as a “rogue agency” and predicted Republicans would eventually be forced to accept the changes because of public pressure.
Schumer Says Senate Democrats Will Fight ‘Tooth And Nail’ Against The SAVE Act
The conversation then shifted to elections after Tapper referenced comments from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said DHS must ensure that “the right people” are voting and electing leaders.
Schumer dismissed Noem’s claims as “bull,” stating that there is little evidence of widespread voter fraud. He criticized the idea of ICE agents near polling places, saying it would intimidate voters and undermine long-standing democratic practices that have successfully functioned for hundreds of years.
Tapper then pivoted the conversation to the controversial SAVE Act, noting that about 83 percent of Americans—including a majority of Democrats—support voter ID laws. Schumer responded that states already set their own identification requirements, but warned that the GOP-backed SAVE Act would go much further. He likened the proposal to “Jim Crow 2.0,” point out that it would make ID requirements so strict that more than 20 million eligible voters—mostly disproportionately poor people and people of color—could be blocked from voting.
Schumer said Senate Democrats would fight the measure “tooth and nail,” framing the shutdown standoff as part of a broader conflict over immigration enforcement and voting rights.
