Dem Rep. Smith: DHS Shutdown Is More Dangerous Now, ‘May Have to Accept’ GOP Won’t Give

On Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that the situation around the DHS shutdown is getting more dangerous, “And we may have to accept the fact that the Republicans are refusing to do anything meaningful” on ICE that Democrats want.

After Smith said Democrats are proposing to fund everything but ICE, host Chris Cuomo said, “Yes, they may be refusing your deal on the table. But you started this. But for what the Democrats did, there is no shutdown.”

Smith responded, “Right. If we had simply funded everything exactly the way the Republicans wanted to, if we had given them their votes without having any say whatsoever in how it was funded, if we simply acted like we didn’t exist and that our votes were irrelevant and did what they wanted to do and just basically voted like Republicans, sure. But we do have a responsibility to stand up for issues, and I agree with you, by the way, that part of the responsibility of that is to try to not do harm, and it’s hard, as you negotiate your way through that, but, again, that’s why we came up with this option.”

Smith continued, “I do think this needs to be resolved. I do. I think the urgency is growing.”

Cuomo then cut in to say, “Yeah, it’s more dangerous now.”

Smith responded, “Yeah, it certainly is. And we may have to accept the fact that the Republicans are refusing to do anything meaningful to protect the rights of the American people, including, two people were killed as a result of these policies — well, actually, three, there was another one that people haven’t talked about as much that ICE killed, and a number of people have been locked up and detained without probable cause, without due process, for weeks, months at a time. I think that’s worth fighting for and worth drawing attention to.”

Smith added that he thinks the Trump administration has moved in the right direction on immigration policy, but it’s still a ways away from where they should be.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett