As the country absorbs the shock of Alex Pretti’s murder by federal agents in Minneapolis, President Trump is politically on the defensive. He sent his border czar there and sort of made nice with Minnesota’s Democratic governor. Meanwhile, Republicans and senior ICE officials are panicking about the situation. Democratic senators are vowing to oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security absent major restrictions on ICE. Will they hold the line? We talked to Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He offers a bracing indictment of Trump-ICE lawlessness, saying bluntly that we’re at a “breaking point” that will decide whether “we condone the federal government murdering our own citizens.” Murphy also lays out how Trump is losing the argument over immigration, details what Democrats should demand to restrict ICE, and explains why it would be disastrous—for his party and the country—if Democrats cave at such a critical moment. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.
The president is shaking up enforcement and talking more about working with local officials. Whether it means long-term deescalation is another matter.