Secure America Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about Minnesota because the fight that is about to happen here on the Senate floor started far away from this place on the streets of my home State.

Tomorrow, Republicans in the Senate are going to force through a partisan bill to give ICE and Customs and Border Protection almost $70 billion, all because they have refused to do anything to rein in the abuses of ICE--abuses that destroyed trust, killed American citizens, and ripped Minnesota families apart. So I want to take a moment to remind my colleagues of how we got to this moment.

What happened was that a masked and lawless Federal police force occupied my State, kidnapping people in the street, tearing families apart, and committing terrible acts of violence. The entire country watched in horror. Your constituents watched. We watched Renee Good killed in her car after dropping her child off at school. We watched Alex Pretti swarmed by masked agents and then shot in the back and killed. We watched 5-year-old Liam Ramos, in his bunny hat and his Spiderman backpack, separated from his father. We bore witness to countless acts of violence captured on camera and many, many more that were hidden from public view. Across the country, it was impossible to look away as we watched our government terrorize people.

But we also saw something exceptional, of course. We saw Minnesotans showing what resistance and what courage look like. In subzero temperatures, Minnesotans met guns with whistles and came out to protect people they didn't even know. Churches and neighbors organized mutual aid and delivered prescriptions to folks who couldn't leave their own homes. They drove kids to school and back again, and they coordinated food deliveries for people who were afraid to go to the grocery store.

We marched--thousands and thousands strong--to demand that ICE get out of our State. And it worked, colleagues. History will remember that Minnesota won the battle of Operation Metro Surge, just as we got through the long, long, cold Minnesota winters, by showing up for our neighbors no matter what our differences might be, by helping people we don't even know, and by peacefully demanding justice and accountability.

But that victory was not without a cost. The great damage done by this rogue, dangerous, secret police force is still felt in Minneapolis and in St. Paul. It is felt in Chicago, in Los Angeles, in Portland, and in countless communities across the country. It is felt in Newark. Lives lost. Injuries sustained. Parents separated from their children. Kids traumatized by these tactics and still not back in school. Businesses that are shuttered.

Colleagues, we still have not had a fair and unbiased investigation with State investigators into the killings of Renee and Alex. People who have done nothing wrong are still waiting for accountability in crowded courtrooms. Legal residents of this country are still being held illegally in detention camps hundreds of miles away from their families. Rent payments missed. Businesses closed. Cities and counties spent their entire annual police overtime budgets to protect their communities.

So I know that it is uncomfortable for my colleagues to hear all of this and that everybody wants to turn the page on this, but on behalf of Minnesota, I need to say out loud and to be clear that it is unacceptable that this legislative battle is happening tomorrow because of the complete failure to agree to even the most basic guardrails on ICE, the same kind of guardrails that your local police department agrees to live by every single day.

I have to say I was hopeful because in the days and the weeks that Operation Metro Surge was unfolding, so many of my colleagues came up to me to offer their support. Many of you both publicly and privately said that what we are seeing in these videos is unacceptable and that we need to do something.

When the former Secretary of Homeland Security declared that the Minnesotans shot and killed by Federal agents were ``domestic terrorists,'' many of you came out and said that we need a full and fair investigation of what happened.

We must have a transparent, independent investigation into the Minnesota shooting, and those responsible--no matter their title--must be held accountable.

Who said that? Not me but Senator Curtis.

Here is another one:

I support a full and impartial investigation into the events leading up to the death of Alex Pretti. His family, law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment right and the trust of the American people deserve a fair process.

Who said that? Senator Crapo said that.

We need a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis. We need all the facts. We must enforce our laws in a way that protects the public while maintaining its trust.

My colleague Senator McCormick said that.

So what happened?

Today, we have a partisan bill to send another $70 billion to ICE and Customs and Border Protection. There has not been a full and impartial investigation. There have been no reforms to stop ICE from kicking down the doors of your home without a warrant. There is nothing to stop masked, secret agents from pulling people out of their cars, following people home, grabbing parents away from their kids--nothing to stop that from happening. There is nothing to help small businesses that were forced to close or school districts trying to help traumatized students. There is nothing to help teachers or parents or police departments that have the millions of dollars in overtime costs.

Now, I will be filing an amendment to make sure that an investigation into Alex and Renee's death is done by the books, that it is fair and that it is unbiased and that it is conducted jointly with State and Federal investigators so that it has credibility in order to restore the public trust. And this is how these investigations have always been done in the past. But there won't be votes for that. My colleagues won't vote for that.

So I want to be clear. I want to thank all of my colleagues who worked with determination and heart to negotiate commonsense reforms to stop the worst of these abuses from happening ever again. Our asks weren't complicated. They weren't radical. We just wanted clarity that Federal agents should follow the same standards as local police departments: No random arrests or breaking down doors without a warrant or probable cause. Wear proper identification and body cameras. No masks.

ICE needs oversight and accountability when they violate the rights of individuals, as guaranteed in our Constitution. Basically, we were just looking for reforms that say ICE has to abide by the laws equally, as they apply to every person in this country.

It is a shame that all of that hard work came to nothing because Donald Trump and Stephen Miller don't want accountability under the law; they want impunity.

And let's be clear. This is really out of step with where Americans are. After months of this lawless behavior, Americans are strongly opposed. They have seen it. Americans are opposed to this. They are strongly opposed to this administration's domestic interior enforcement policy. Fifty-six percent of Americans disapprove.

Meanwhile--let's be honest about this--these abuses are continuing, though maybe without all of the public attention--not all of the public attention. Raids are happening in California, in Oklahoma, in Ohio, and elsewhere. We have seen what has been happening in Newark this past week. ICE pepper-sprayed a U.S. Senator outside a detention center in New Jersey just this past week--my colleague Senator Andy Kim.

Mr. President, 100,000 children are separated from their parents right now, today. Three-quarters of them are estimated to be U.S. citizens--100,000 kids. At least 33 people died in ICE custody in 2025. Already in 2026, over 18 people have died. This is the best data we have, though it is very difficult to get this information. That is one person who has lost their life every 6 days, and many of these losses of life were under deeply concerning circumstances. We are denying lifesaving care, lifesaving medical treatment for transplant and for cancer patients--people that are detained by this Federal Government. Just today, I was working to try to get a humanitarian release for a woman who is suffering from an extreme health condition, who could lose her life if she does not get the care she needs.

The Federal Government is taking people hundreds of miles away from home and then turning them out on the street with nothing--no ID, no money, no papers, no way to get home.

The truth is, this administration is still doing what it did in Minneapolis; they are just doing a better job of keeping it out of the news.

So here we are today at a partisan impasse that Americans just don't understand because, for them, this isn't about politics; this is about common decency. Democrats stand strong, and we are demanding strong but basic commonsense guardrails and accountability. We want our communities to be safe. We want our children to be able to walk to school without fear of being scooped up by a Federal agent. We want people to be able to go to their jobs without fear that an agent is going to break their car window and drag them out of their car and onto the street. But my Republican colleagues are saying no to this. In the face of a crushing cost-of-living crisis in this country, where millions of Americans are struggling to afford their lives, Republicans' answer to this is to send $70 billion to ICE and Customs and Border Protection for massive, privately owned, for-profit detention centers and a Federal immigration police force with a budget that is several times larger than the FBI's.

You know, I don't know about your home State, but in Minnesota, $70 billion is a lot of money, and people are just not getting this. This is the priority we have in this body today? This is what we are choosing to do?

We could take this money and lower health insurance premiums by extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits for 2 whole years. But no, we can't do that. We are told by our Republican colleagues that that is too expensive. But we can send $70 billion, on top of everything we have already sent, to ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

We could pay for Head Start preschool for 5 years. But no, we don't have money for that; we just have money for this.

Why not update and repair or replace every drinking water or wastewater system in Minnesota, and then we would still have more than $7 billion left over. That is a choice we could make, but today and tomorrow, this body is making a different choice.

No. Republicans are choosing to send billions of your tax dollars to ICE for a Federal police force and for-profit detention centers with no reforms or guardrails.

Not only that, but rather than address any of the challenges facing ordinary, middle-class Americans, Republicans want to load up this bill with extra giveaways for billionaires and convicted felons, sometimes the same category.

They want an extra billion of taxpayer dollars to pay for a ballroom. They wanted almost $2 billion in a slush fund. That has, thankfully, fallen out of this bill so far, but I want to know for sure that that is not going happen.

If you are watching this and you are feeling confused about what is going on in this body, colleagues, I mean you should feel--Americans, my constituents in Minnesota--you should feel confused because this is outrageous. This is not how our democracy is supposed to work.

I mean, here is the thing, I actually believe that a lot of my colleagues on the Republican side are actually kind of embarrassed by this. They know it. They know that this isn't right, and they for sure know that it is bad politics.

But that is not enough. We also need everybody in this body to not just say what they say behind closed doors but to say it out loud in public. That is what our country needs right now.

But here we are. And while Democrats may not be in power in the Senate, we are not powerless. So we will keep fighting, and we will keep preserving the Minnesota way just as we did fighting Operation Metro Surge.

We will double down on our love for our neighbors and unity in the face of this injustice. We will keep fighting for a better country. We will not forget our neighbors Alex and Renee and Liam and all of the others that were so hurt by what happened in my home State, and we will keep up the fight. And we will vote no on this bill.

Colleagues, today is your chance. This is the chance that we have to speak out with the eyes of history upon us. So I urge you to say no to this bill and to stand on the side of justice, justice for Minnesota, justice for this whole country.

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