On Friday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) discussed the DHS shutdown and said that “if we were able to open up the rest of the government and focus on the ICE issue, it may allow us, then, to have, I think, a discussion that’s overdue” and “it’s ripe for us to have a sensible discussion about a reasonable immigration plan and a reasonable way to deal with some folks who don’t have legal status.”
While discussing the DHS shutdown, Welch said, “The other reality is, that ICE got forward funding, about three years, in the one big, beautiful bill. So, this is — ironically, it’s not really affecting ICE.”
He continued, “And if we were able to open up the rest of the government and focus on the ICE issue, it may allow us, then, to have, I think, a discussion that’s overdue. The border’s secure now. It wasn’t under Biden. You say that, and that’s true, alright. There’s consensus that we should deport criminals. But there is a lot of concern in the country from Republicans and Democrats about what you had of a mass round up where we were going to construction sites, we were going to farms, we were going after people who don’t have legal status, but who came here, sometimes as kids, have no criminal record, and are contributing members of the community. So, I think it’s ripe for us to have a sensible discussion about a reasonable immigration plan and a reasonable way to deal with some folks who don’t have legal status.”
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