Trump wants the GOP to be unified on immigration. But that may be a pipe dream.
And this Republican Senator made a comment about ICE that will leave Trump furious.
In a bold appearance on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” this Tuesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul didn’t hold back on the issue of ICE agents hiding behind masks while operating in our nation’s cities.
As a staunch defender of law and order, Paul made it clear he’s not out to dismantle the agency, but he’s fed up with tactics that erode the very trust they’re supposed to build with everyday Americans.
Paul laid it out straight: “I think the main thing is if you want trust to develop again, I’m not somebody who wants to abolish ICE. I want ICE to behave within the rules and enforce the law. But I want them to behave in a normal, rational law enforcement manner.”
Host Stephanie Ruhle pressed him on the masks, asking point-blank: “Do you think it’s OK for ICE to be wearing these masks?”
Paul didn’t mince words in his response, highlighting how this practice fuels suspicion and bad conduct.
He explained: “I think that anonymity and wearing a mask leads to less responsible behavior. I’m not saying there might not be a value on the border where the cartels are running large and things are a little bit more murky, and mayors’ heads are being chopped off by the cartel. I have a little more sympathy there.”
Paul called out scenes where masked ICE agents were operating in places like Chicago courthouses, far from the dangers of cartel violence.
“The images where I’ve seen ICE agents in masks, in an elevator, in a courthouse in Chicago, I think are inappropriate,” Paul stated.
He contrasted this with local law enforcement, noting how they’re out in the open without hiding their faces.
“Look, the local police in Chicago, the bail of everybody else is unmasked,” Paul added.
The Senator went on the describe one image he saw: “I don’t know why we would have one group of men apprehending. The image I saw was arresting women and their children in an elevator in the courthouse in Chicago.”
He argued that such tactics do more harm than good: “I think one that reduces trust by the public but doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Paul tied it all back to human nature, saying: “And I do think when you’re anonymous, like any time you’re anonymous, you tend to do things that you might not do if you were recognizable.”
