SENATE DEMOCRATS SURRENDER THEIR ADVANTAGE

Senate Democrats have preemptively surrendered on Department of Homeland Security funding, David Dayen of The American Propsect reports.

... the Democrats’ list of demands appears to have shrunk after internal deliberations.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released the Senate caucus’s set of asks on Wednesday. They included an end to roving patrols and a requirement for proper judicial warrants, limiting enforcement actions to known targets in conjunction with local law enforcement; standards on use of force that match those of the local police; and a “masks off, body cameras on” policy.

The first few items would be good if they could be enforced. "Body cameras on" is useless -- those of us who live in big cities know that cops with body camera requirements routinely say, "Whoops! I forgot to turn my camera on!" when footage is demanded after a controversial incident. We also know that the Republican message machine can persuade nearly everyone in the GOP voter base that they're seeing something other than what video evidence shows.

And the thugs will sidestep "masks off," saying they need to wear face coverings for the cold (in places like Minnesota and Maine now), or wear gas masks because they're deploying tear gas and pepper balls.

And:

Arguably many of these conditions are already part of ICE and CBP standards; the problem is a lack of enforcement. Indeed, a new directive sent to ICE agents late Wednesday night instructed them to avoid talking to community members (“agitators,” to use their word) and to only target immigrants with criminal charges or convictions. That would encompass a good chunk of the Schumer demands.

What's missing from the Democrats' list of demands?

Ideas like requiring cooperation with state and local investigations into ICE and CBP misconduct, returning CBP personnel to the border rather than interior enforcement, preventing enforcement in “sensitive locations” like schools or churches, and ending mass quotas for immigration arrests are not present in the Schumer list. And Schumer also doesn’t touch funding levels, nor does he attempt to claw back the surge funding for ICE that enables operations like those we’re seeing in Minnesota.

Yes, end the quotas! It's a reasonable ask, and Democrats could have made the case that the quotas are the reason Trump's thugs are detaining children, elderly citizens in their underwear, and immigrants who are working and not committing crimes. Also, there are reports that even the agents themselves find the quotas burdensome.) And stay away from schools, churches, and hospitals.

But that's the problem: old-fashioned Democrats feel they need to be strictly passive in the face of public opinion -- or even what they imagine public opinion is. They don't believe they're within their rights to try to change public opinion, even if they have compelling arguments. They finally understand that the public has turned against ICE, but they've internalized the belief that it's still the late twentieth century, and normies -- Chuck Schumer's imaginary Baileys -- believe in "law and order" and keeping law enforcement accountability to the absolute minimum. They can't imagine that they could invoke the arrest of children to stir justifiable outrage. They think only Republicans are allowed to try to steer public opinion -- or even, in this case, nudge it further in the direction it's already going.

There are Democrats who aren't thinking like this.

... the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has released “non-negotiable” policy positions for DHS funding, including suspending ICE/CBP enforcement actions in Minnesota, barring detention of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, protecting sensitive locations, banishing Border Patrol to the border, redirecting Big Beautiful Bill funding of DHS away from mass detention and deportation, and a bunch more.

Even if you're a Schumer Democrat and believe that most of these demands are the more than the Baileys can tolerate, what's wrong with demanding that Trump's Gestapo no longer detain citizens and lawful permanent residents? Or even just citizens? Is it so hard for the Schumer Democrats to imagine that normie voters might react positively to the idea that it makes no sense to detain U.S. citizens in what's supposed to be a crackdown on undocumented immigrants?

But the Schumer Democrats can't wrap their minds around the idea that Democratic messaging should lead to the conclusion They're the extremists. We're the reasonable Americans. And so, once again, they're squandering an opportunity.