Dem Rep. Schneider: ICE ‘Terrorizing’ with ‘Physical Violence’, Trump ‘Trying to Provoke Violence’

On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said that ICE is “literally going around terrorizing our communities, tackling people, bringing them to the ground, physical violence, terrorizing communities,” and “the president’s trying to provoke violence. He’s trying to create a situation where he can justify the actions he wants to take.”

Co-host Sara Sidner asked, “Trump is sending troops to Portland. He’s also just increased the ICE presence for raids in your state. And he says he will send troops to Chicago at some point, although he had promised that before sending them to Portland, right after he sent troops to Washington, D.C. How do you think the state and local government should respond?”

Schneider answered, “Well, I think what you’ve seen in Chicago and Illinois is the way we need to address it. The governor’s been very clear. ICE is not welcome to do what they’re doing here. They’re literally going around terrorizing our communities, tackling people, bringing them to the ground, physical violence, terrorizing communities, not keeping the community safer, but actually making people scared and frightened. And, with respect to the National Guard, the governor said they’re not needed here. We’ve all been together on this. I visited Naval Station Great Lakes with Sen. Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Duckworth (D-IL) to talk to the base, making sure that their mission of training our sailors is protected and not abused by the president. The bottom line is, the president’s trying to provoke violence. He’s trying to create a situation where he can justify the actions he wants to take. It’s a totalitarian playbook that we’ve seen play out in other places, and it has no place here in America.”

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