STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro has been following all of this, and she's part of it - member of Congress, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, which holds the power of the purse in Congress, or is supposed to. Representative DeLauro, good morning.
ROSA DELAURO: Good morning, Steve. Good to be with you.
INSKEEP: OK, so Congress is close to asserting itself when it comes to the Department of Homeland Security. We just heard from Ximena a few possible provisions that might be inserted into the law. What do you want when it comes to DHS?
ROSA DELAURO: Well, as it's been outlined, we outlined this when we did our appropriations bills several weeks ago in the House, and we gave a bill of particulars - list of particulars to the Republicans. For instance, let's not deport or detain U.S. citizens, requiring the body-worn cameras that Ximena talked about this morning, requiring reporting on the use of force, allowing the access, which has been required by law, for members of Congress to access facilities, training standards. The training has been cut back to, you know, less than a little bit over a month, where there used to be, you know, several months, so - and requiring, yes, judicial warrants. So we have outlined some issues already. And the issue is, it's an enforceable code of conduct, real accountability when agents break the law, prohibitions on detention of department of U.S. citizens, judicial warrants, masks off, badges on, necessary measures to keep communities safe...
INSKEEP: I want to be clear - when you say the judicial warrants, I want to be clear what you're talking about here. As I understand it, sometimes, very often, in fact, immigration agents have used what they call administrative warrants, which is essentially the DHS giving itself permission to go grab someone or search a house or whatever. You're saying you want it in law affirmed that they need to go to a judge who is independent.
ROSA DELAURO: That's right. Exactly. That you require ICE to have a warrant for any arrest of a noncitizen.
INSKEEP: Now, let me ask also about the matter of masks off. We heard Ximena say the Republican argument against this, that the agents are vulnerable, that they've been doxed, which means their addresses could be exposed and that sort of thing. What is the strongest case that you have that agents should be showing their faces, should properly identify themselves as federal agents if they are working on behalf of us, the taxpayers?
ROSA DELAURO: Well, they're working on behalf of us, the taxpayers, and you can go to any municipality, Steve, and I just came from dealing with a grant on deescalation techniques in West Haven, Connecticut, for our municipalities. All of our law enforcement people, they have on their jackets their names. They have a badge number, etc., and, you know, that has been the practice, you know, historically, where people are identifying themselves. This is just a - you know, we have people who are masked and armed and marauding our streets. Imagine that. Imagine the terror they are striking, you know, into the minds and hearts of American citizens. And we don't know who they are. They're picking up people off the street, willy-nilly, not criminals, you know? So they need to - we need to know who they are.
INSKEEP: Let me ask you about the conversation in Congress. And I will note for people who are not aware, we said you were on the Appropriations Committee. Appropriators, historically, have been a little more bipartisan, a little more pragmatic, a little bit more working across the aisle than maybe some other parts of Congress have been. What have the conversations been like with your Republican colleagues when you lay out some of the requests or demands that we're just discussing?
ROSA DELAURO: Oh, well, look, let me just take a step back with you for a second. You know, I think we have - what we needed to do, and I think was demonstrated by yesterday's vote, was we need to govern. I'm an appropriator. I need to govern. The other thing is we need to protest and resist where we think things are not right. So that is the framework, and that is what happened yesterday. Eleven out of the 12 full-year appropriations bills have been signed into law. Significant wins by Democrats. NIH funding, rental assistance - I'm not going to go on with those, but significant gains. And we rejected $163 billion in cuts that the Trump administration sought. Where we have differences - and there will be continued - to be differences. This is going to be a negotiation. And - but that's what we need to do because ICE, DHS, has been lawless, it has been reckless and it has killed two American citizens. And we have to do something.
INSKEEP: And do your Republican colleagues agree?
ROSA DELAURO: I think some do - that some do. The issue will be, are they willing to speak up? They've spoken about body cameras. They speak about training. But let's get to some of the heart of this matter here to put the American people and their psyches and their mental health state at rest here. Give them some piece of what's happening, not just in Minnesota, but all over this country.
INSKEEP: Representative Rosa DeLauro, thanks for your time. Really appreciate it.
ROSA DELAURO: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And we'll note, as always, we invite Republicans as well as Democrats to join us. We hope to hear from Republicans on this issue a different day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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