Dem leadership calls to ban ICE agents from polling places

Schumer wrote, "SENATE AND HOUSE DEMOCRATS ARE UNITED ON REINING IN THE ABUSES OF ICE. Americans have watched in horror as ICE has terrorized communities across the country. Federal agents can’t continue to cause chaos in our cities while more Americans are killed. We must rein in ICE."

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/2019251633884905981?s=20

The 10-point list of demands covers policies, funding, and actions used and taken by immigration agents across the country. In regards to "sensitive locations," the list states that leaders want to "prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc."

The inclusion of polling places among the list raised eyebrows among lawmakers, who questioned why this would be an issue if people who are not citizens of the United States are prohibited from voting in elections.

Senator Katie Boyd Britt wrote, "Democrats just admitted they think illegal aliens need to be protected at polling places. Why exactly would illegal aliens be at polling places? We MUST fully fund DHS AND pass the SAVE America Act."

https://twitter.com/SenKatieBritt/status/2019244606509183061?s=20

The first item on the list states that "DHS officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant. End indiscriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards. Require verification that a person is not a US citizen before holding them in immigration detention."

Democrat leaders also demanded that immigration enforcement agents be prohibited from wearing masks, be required to wear identification and say their ID number and last name if asked and be required to use body cameras when interacting with the public.

Other lawmakers called the ID provision on the list into question, as many Democrats have taken issue with the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote.

https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee/status/2019430671291412496?s=20

https://twitter.com/RepLuna/status/2019254297154744579?s=20

The list also demands that DHS officers be prohibited from conducting stops, questioning, and searches "based on an individual’s presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity," for a "reasonable" use of force policy to be put into law, training be expanded, and certification of officers be required.

Democrats demanded that if an incident occurs, the officer should be removed from the field until an investigation takes place. They said that "the ability of State and local jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and use of excessive force incidents" be preserved, and that states and localities give consent "to conduct large-scale operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement."

They also demanded that it be made "clear that all buildings where people are detained must abide by the same basic detention standards that require immediate access to a person’s attorney to prevent citizen arrests or detention. Allow states to sue DHS for violations of all requirements. Prohibit limitations on Member visits to ICE facilities regardless of how those facilities are funded.

The final demand on the list calls for "no paramilitary police," with Democrats demanding the regulation and standardization of "the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers carry during enforcement operations to bring them in line with civil enforcement.”

The list of demands comes after Trump signed a funding package on Tuesday that included a two-week stopgap to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded. That funding expires on February 13.