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Jan. 23, 2026 06:59-08:02 - CSPAN
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Washington Journal 01/23/2026
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Coming out this morning on Washington Journal, along with your calls and comments live, Susan B. Anthony, Pro-Life America's Marjorie Dannenfelzer, on today's annual National March for Life and priorities for the pro-life movement in the year ahead.
And New York Democratic Congressman Adriano Espayat discusses the role and funding of ICE and President Trump's foreign policy goals.
Washington Journal is next.
Join the conversation.
Good morning, everyone.
It's Friday, January 23rd, happening in the House yesterday.
A majority of Democrats opposed a spending measure to fund Homeland Security and ICE operations following protests in Minneapolis over the fatal shooting by an ICE agent.
Many Democrats opposing funding for the agency because they say it's beyond fixing and should be eliminated.
This morning, your thoughts?
Mistakes and ICE 00:15:56
Do you support or oppose the abolishing of ICE?
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
Republicans, 202-748-8001.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can text at 202-748-8003, include your first name city and state, or post on facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
YouGov recently conducted a poll asking people if they agree with the idea of eliminating ICE as a federal agency.
Take a look at these numbers.
While 42% said that they strongly or somewhat support this, 45% said they somewhat or strongly oppose the idea of eliminating ICE.
Another question asked in a Quinnipiac poll, their view of U.S. immigration and customs enforcement.
57% disapprove of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws, while 40% approve.
We want to get your take on all of this this morning.
The vice president was in Minneapolis yesterday, and the headline out of the Minnesota Star Tribune this morning, Vance blames failure of cooperation for chaos in Minneapolis.
Here's what he had to say.
President Trump this week said that ICE has made some mistakes.
I'm curious what steps the administration is taking to rectify those.
And do you think your presence in Minneapolis today will calm the tensions there?
Well, certainly one of my goals is to calm the tensions, to talk to people, to try to understand what we can do better.
You know, when the president says that there are mistakes have been made, you know, my thought on that is that, well, of course there have been mistakes made because you're always going to have mistakes made in law enforcement.
I mean, we all know this.
Probably every single person in this room knows a police officer.
99% of our police officers, probably more than that, are doing everything right.
Some people are going to make mistakes.
That's the nature of law enforcement.
But the number one way where we could lower the mistakes that are happening, at least with our immigration enforcement, is to have local jurisdictions that are cooperating with us.
There are some very basic things that would make Minneapolis look like, look, Memphis, Tennessee, a blue city where you do not have this chaos in immigration enforcement because the local police and the local authorities are cooperating with us.
So when you look at Memphis, Tennessee, or Austin, Texas, or any other community virtually across the United States of America, and you don't see the same level of chaos in Minneapolis, the natural conclusion is that it's not what ICE is doing in Minneapolis, it's what Minneapolis authorities are doing to prevent ICE from doing their jobs.
And that's exactly what's happening.
Vice President Vance in Minneapolis yesterday, Politico this morning with the headline on House action, approving a DHS funding bill and other final spending bills amid this ICE uproar.
And they note that only seven Democrats join most Republicans in approving the Homeland Security bill ahead of a January 30th shutdown deadline.
Now Democrats, a nuanced opposition, voted majority of them voting against this Homeland Security measure.
The vote was 220 to 207.
And the New York Times reports this morning that the appropriators had done some checks on the Homeland Security and ICE agency, keeping ICE funding about the same as last year.
That was one of the checks that the appropriators put on this agency, reducing funding for the office of Secretary Noam by $29.5 million and require her office to pay for travel on government aircraft, and require the Homeland Security Department to detail spending of $190 billion under the One Big Beautiful bill, including $75 billion for ICE.
This is the Washington Post reporting, and they note the seven Democrats who joined the Republicans to approve this spending measure.
There are four on your screen, Representative Davis, and here are the other three, Congresswoman Perez, Congresswoman Gonzalez, and Congressman Swazi of New York, many of them in swing districts.
Now, Democrats, as I said, the majority of them were in opposition, including the Democratic leaders, Hakeem Jeffries, as well as Catherine Clark, who counts votes for the Democrats in the House.
Here's what she had to say.
Today is not about ICE funding.
Republicans already gave ICE $75 billion.
Today is about the fact that we have a mass paramilitary force terrorizing our communities.
Republicans had the opportunity in this bill to enact common sense checks on ICE operations.
They refused.
First, they refused to ensure ICE abides by the same laws and procedures as our local and state police, that they're unmasked when on duty, that they actually wear the body cameras, that they wear a nameplate identifying who they are, and that they are held responsible for excessive force.
Second, the GOP refused to join us in upholding the Constitution.
Not only are these arrests warrantless, ICE has now determined they have the right to search your home without a judicial warrant.
That is illegal and it is unconstitutional.
Third, they refuse to make sure that the use of deadly force is always thoroughly investigated.
When Renee Goode was shot to death, Christy Noam declared her a domestic terrorist within hours.
The only investigation Noam was interested in was an investigation into Renee Goode's widow.
That is not justice.
That is not security for the American people.
Fourth, Republicans refuse to agree to the simple concept that American citizens should not be detained and deported.
That people going about their business should not be kidnapped because of the color of their skin or because they're engaging in peaceful protests.
Democratic whip Catherine Clark on the floor yesterday explaining why the majority of Democrats oppose this Homeland Security spending bill.
You heard her outline there the reforms that they wanted to see to ICE.
And some Democrats say it's beyond fixing and that it should be abolished.
What do all of you think?
Diana in San Antonio, Texas, Democratic caller, good morning to you.
Good morning.
How are you?
What do you think, Diana?
I don't, I think ICE should be reformed to go back to enforcing the borders.
And it must never mean violating the rights of its citizens.
What rights are being violated?
Being detained for no reason, being asked to show your papers in America.
In America, citizens, who does that?
I mean, what other agency does that?
How do you agents determine whether or not somebody is a U.S. citizen or an illegal immigrant without asking for documentation?
By the color of their skin.
That was by Justice Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh stops.
The color of their skin.
They said it themselves.
All right.
Diana there in San Antonio and Texas.
Democratic caller, Mike in Ohio Independent.
Mike, your turn.
Good morning, Greta.
Good morning, America.
That first caller, unbelievable.
It's called ID, not paperwork.
This is not Gestapo or Nazi Germany like they're portraying.
Let's talk about this.
ICE is getting rid of the people that are here illegally.
Biden and Kamala Harris had the border open and allowed 15 to 20 million people who were not even vetted.
ICE is going after the people that already have warrants.
And if you just happen to be an illegal here illegally without a green card or visa, you are deported.
Plain and simple.
We have, we're Minnesota, everybody.
I mean, look at what's going on financially with every state that have taken in these illegals.
And I do say illegal.
And it's just inconceivable how the Democrats have turned the American citizens against American citizens.
When are we going to wake up and realize this is about the census, which they don't even is illegal to say if you're an American citizen?
This is about having a voter base legally or illegally in your area, your state, to where they can change and get Democrats back in to just finish to destroying this country.
Mike, do you, do you see any, do you have any concerns with how ICE is conducting itself in these cities?
Listen, I was a military police.
When I approached my people, The attitude that you got is the attitude that you gave.
The Democratic Party has turned people against ICE, and things are getting physical.
Renee, all she had to do was comply, but no.
She was part of an organization trained by the Democratic Party and these NGOs on how not to go along with ICE.
I mean, I'm just, I'm so pissed off.
We need to get it together, and Trump is doing the right idea.
Okay.
Go ICE.
Mike's thoughts there in Ohio, an independent caller.
Writing in today's opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal is Jimmy Percival, who is the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, how the deep state thwarted ICE administrative warrants.
He says bureaucrats falsely claimed the law didn't allow officers into illegal aliens' homes.
Those are his words in the Wall Street Journal opinion pages.
And what he writes is that the Fourth Amendment is an essential safeguard of America's privacy and personal liberty.
Its protections must not be eroded, but they also must not be misappropriated by those seeking to subvert legitimate law enforcement.
The left has done that for decades, particularly in the area of immigration enforcement.
He goes on to say this: that illegal aliens, however, don't have the same rights as citizens.
Under federal immigration law, officers may issue an administrative warrant, which means that the probable cause finding is made by an executive branch officer rather than a judicial officer.
This is consistent with broad judicial recognition that illegal aliens aren't entitled to the same Fourth Amendment protections as U.S. citizens.
He also writes that while administration warrants may satisfy the Fourth Amendment for any arrest of an illegal alien, ICE currently uses these warrants to enter an illegal alien's residence only when the alien has received a final order of removal from an immigration judge.
That means the alien has already seen a judge, presented his case, received due process, and been ordered removed from the country.
Aliens in this context are fugitives from justice.
And the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Minnesota, has expressly recognized that administrative warrants may be used to enter a residence to capture a fugitive.
That's the general counsel for the Homeland Security Department writing in today's Wall Street Journal.
Rory, in California, Republican, let's hear from you.
Yes, a couple of things I would like to find out.
First, are these protesters carrying any identification?
I've been hearing stories they don't and they expect to be released because you can't identify them.
Every police officer in the world knows you have to identify yourself.
You can't go around saying, I don't have it, now let me go.
If that's the case, they don't deserve it.
I also understand that between 10 and 20 million aliens enter this country under Biden.
I think somebody said it's one and a half to two million people that have been caught and deported.
Another three years of this, then we'll have six to eight million aliens maybe deported, the worst probably, but others too.
I don't know how many got into America, but even when Trump leaves, there'll still be too many, and you need to be an American to be an America.
And you need to prove that you're an American, and you always have to prove your identity.
That's it.
So, Rory, are you still there?
Oh, we lost Rory.
We'll go to Shirley in Stratford, Connecticut, Democratic caller.
Hi, Shirley.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning, America.
I want to just have all the Americans listen.
We have invited people to come to our country because we have the Statue of Liberty that says, give me your wheat, you're tired, you're poor.
And we also have also noticed that there's a poem from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust that says, first they came.
And it says, first they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
But then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
They have taken a five-year-old boy whose parents was going through the immigration process to become citizens.
And they took this child because they wanted to take his parents, his pregnant mother and his father.
And these people are just trying to become American citizens, and we're not giving them an opportunity.
But Matthew 25, 42 to 45 says, if you've done it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me, says Jesus.
And if you don't stop abusing people, you're abusing Jesus.
And so this is what I feel this country is divided against.
They're divided against good and evil.
Shirley, so support or oppose abolishing ICE?
Would you go as far as terminating the agency?
I oppose what ICE is doing, but ICE was always here.
They always have been going through immigration process for those who are incarcerated by our country that have done crimes.
People Being Picked Up Off the Street 00:15:22
They are criminals in jail right now that should not be let go into the country, but they send them straight to ICE when they are undocumented.
And there was always a process.
This is not new.
This has always been going on.
These people who are in the administration now in Trump's administration don't know what they're doing.
They are trying to turn things around on citizens of the United States because if they can get us used to people being picked up off the street, they can be another Germany back in the early 40s when Hitler was doing his dirt to the citizens of his country.
All right, Shirley's comments.
They are from Stratford, Connecticut, Democratic Caller.
Listen to the Appropriations Committee Chair, Congressman Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, during yesterday's House debate over the funding measure for the Homeland Security Department, which includes ICE.
Here he's pushing back on some of the verbal attacks on ICE officers.
Now, I do worry about the rhetoric around this bill.
I personally believe, not intentionally, but it's reckless.
The encouraging people to believe that we have masses of bad actors in a particular agency and that some of the rhetoric, and mostly not on this floor, let me say that, that I have heard in the country about, you know, comparing law enforcement officers to the Gestapo or the Nazi.
That's terrible.
That's not true.
That's not who they are.
That's not what they do.
And that kind of rhetoric, when we hear it and wherever we hear it from, is dangerous and reckless and wrong.
Republican Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole on the floor yesterday defending ICE.
This morning, we're asking you, do you support or oppose the abolishing of ICE?
Russell and Jerome, Idaho, Independent, good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm in Idaho and the weather is good, thank God.
But I have a lot of background for the ICE and the Border Patrol.
I was born and raised in San Diego, California, and I lived a lot of time within a mile of the border.
And so I saw for many years up until 1990 that people were just coming across trying to get a better life.
And I just don't understand how our ICE agents aren't taking that into consideration when they beat these people up or excuse me, rough them up.
I just don't understand how that can take place and people don't.
All right, Russell.
So do you, what do you think should happen with ICE?
Should there be reforms?
Well, I appreciate that they're there.
But like I say, I lived on the I saw immigrants coming over our fences.
And, you know, they looked like haggard and they were tired and they had kids.
And I would give them water and I should probably be in jail right now for doing what I do.
I give them a can of beans.
I didn't have much.
But, you know, I felt sorry for these people coming over to America.
And I just don't understand why ICE has to be so mad to them.
All right.
So Russell, are you in favor of some reforms?
We heard Catherine Clark, Democratic leader on the House floor, saying Republicans rejected many reforms put forth by the party in order to support the funding measure for the Homeland Security Department.
And because they were rejected by Republicans, the majority of Democrats opposed the legislation.
Right.
Right.
I see that.
I see that angle.
But, you know, it really comes down to we are all people.
We're people.
We're human beings.
We're neighbors.
We're, you know, we need to take care of each other.
Okay.
Russell's thoughts.
Anita, an Alabama Republican.
Let's hear from you.
Yes.
First of all, the lady that was quoting Bible scripture, it also says, if you don't take care of your own household, you're worse than an infidel.
So the newspaper article that you read, okay, that was not true because they do have more benefits over here than senior citizens that were born and raised here.
I know that firsthand.
And yes, we need more ICE because people that went in that church Sunday, every one of them needs to go to jail and they need to stay there.
And a preacher needs to go in there every day, different preachers, and make them sit there and listen to the Word of God.
And they should be reprimanded for going in that church house.
And I wish there'd have been 100 ICE agents in that church and arrested every one of them.
And no, they're not mistreating these people.
Are you going to stand there and let somebody spit in your face?
No, you won't.
And until this knocks on your door, you're not going to support ICE.
All right.
Anita in Alabama, a Republican calling for beefing up ICE.
This morning, we're asking you, support or oppose abolishing ICE.
There's calls on the left to do so after the fatal shooting in Minneapolis by an ICE agent and the protesting that has followed.
Back to your calls in just a minute.
Listened to the Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries with reporters yesterday speaking out against Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam, who oversees ICE and the tactics being used by the agents.
Christy Noam is a corrupt political hack who is deeply unqualified and is unleashing brutality using taxpayer dollars on the American people.
ICE is out of control and operating in far too many ways in a lawless fashion, and the American people know it, which is why the American people have turned against Donald Trump and his extreme immigration policies.
So once we get through the appropriations process, which is what is in front of us right now, we'll continue to have conversations, particularly with the leaders of the relevant committees, Benny Thompson, Robert Garcia,
and Jamie Raskin, about what accountability can look like so that the American people actually have their taxpayer dollars spent in ways that are designed to promote their safety and uplift our values as Americans,
as opposed to what we're seeing right now from ICE, which is that they're using taxpayer dollars to inflict brutality on the American people.
And in the instance of Renee Nicole Good killing an American citizen in cold blood.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, there, critical of the Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam and the ICE operations.
David in Illinois Democratic Caller, it's your turn, David.
Thanks for joining the conversation this morning.
What do you say?
Support or oppose abolishing ICE?
Greta, can you hear me?
We can.
Okay, I don't know if it should be abolished or not.
I certainly don't agree with these tactics.
They're terrible.
But I have just two short questions.
When was the Homeland Security formed and ICE?
Was it shortly after 9-11?
That's right.
Okay, one other question.
Was there any cases that went to the Supreme Court, say from the state of Texas or California, that what the Biden administration was doing was illegal at the border?
Thank you.
Well, David, let me clarify.
A Homeland Security Department was created after 9-11.
And when it was created, there were many agencies that were folded into the Homeland Security Department.
ICE could have been one of those agents as it existed before the September 11th, 2001 attacks.
So we've always had an ICE department.
And your point is?
Well, my main point is I thought for sure there'd be some challenge from a state like Arizona to the Supreme Court that this was illegal, what the Biden administration was doing.
Did that ever happen?
All right.
David, an Illinois Democratic caller.
Ray in Aurora, Colorado, Independent.
Hi, Ray.
Hi, good morning.
Am I coming in clear?
You are.
Go ahead.
Okay.
I'm affiliated with the Libertarian Party.
And short of actually completely opening the border, I'd be in favor of abolishing ICE in a particular way.
I see ICE that can't, as was mentioned earlier, ICE was created as part of the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, going back to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which I saw as sort of a knee-jerk Russian reaction to what happened on September 11, 2001.
What I'd like to see is that, to the extent that there should be any immigration enforcement, I'd like to see some components reconsolidated, consolidated, perhaps reduced.
And I will say, one of the few things I agree with Mayorkas about in the Prime Minister is the idea of limiting priorities based on limiting resources.
What I'd like to see is, as part of a broader proposal for immigration reform, is rolling back some of the more restrictive statutes that were put into effect and that have been in effect for the last 30 years.
I think 96, that reform was a big mistake.
I think that has led to the patterns of illegal immigration that we're seeing now.
Okay.
John in California, Republican.
Let's hear from you.
Good morning.
ICE should not be eliminated.
As a matter of fact, it should be strengthened.
If the Democrats had not opened the gate and let all these people in here uninvited, unannounced, and undocumented, unvetted, we wouldn't be having this problem.
If the people of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, particularly, would just turn over the people they have arrested, the people that had come here uninvited, unannounced, unvetted, and committed crimes.
Once they got here, all they would have to do is call ICE and say, hey, we've got this guy.
We picked him up for shoplifting.
We picked him up for knocking somebody around.
Or we picked him up for molesting children, which there are several cases of that where these people that all these militants are defending.
This is ridiculous.
And McKeem Jeffries just got on there and lied.
And oh, they're abusing them.
And we're taking them to concentration camps and all this garbage.
These people, we have laws.
We have immigration laws.
And the Democrats diabolically want them here because they want to count for the census so they can maintain their seats in Congress.
And they also plan on voting.
Illegals vote in California anytime they want to.
And John argued with me about that one time.
You can look it up.
California is a mess because we allow non-citizens, encourage non-citizens, both legal and here with visas, student visas, working visas, what have you, to vote in our elections.
That's why California is such a Marxist.
And John, your evidence of that.
My evidence of that is the laws of California that say you go in to get a driver's license and there's a box on the application that says, do you want to register to vote?
It is illegal for that administrator at the DMB to ask that person if they're a legal citizen.
It is against state law to do that.
What evidence, though, do you have that it's actually happening?
17% of the illegals in this state say believe that they are registered to vote.
And the other thing that makes- But you said it's happening in California.
It's happening in California.
According to the laws of the state of California, there is nothing we can do to keep a non-citizen from voting.
Do you think the Democratic Party in California is not going to send buses into these areas where these non-citizens live and encourage them to get to the polls to vote?
That's the reason that Democrats want.
All right.
John there, a Republican in California.
Take a look at this CNN poll that was conducted recently on the effect of ICE enforcement actions in cities.
51% say that ICE makes cities less safe.
31% say ICE makes cities safer.
And 18% say not having much effect at all.
Let's go back to the vice president, JD Vance, in Minneapolis yesterday, speaking out in support of ICE there in that community and calling for peaceful protests.
The guys behind me are doing an incredible job, and frankly, a lot of the media is lying about the job that they do every single day.
Now, it doesn't mean that there aren't occasionally stories out there, there aren't occasionally videos out there that suggest that these guys, or at least some of the people who work for them, are not doing everything right.
But very often, if you look at the context of what's going on, you understand that these people are under an incredible amount of duress, an incredible amount of chaos, and because of a few very far-left agitators, a lot of these guys are unable to do their jobs without being harassed, without being doxxed, and sometimes without being insulted.
ICE Agents on Streets 00:03:42
That's totally unacceptable.
And that's one of the things that I want to send a message to: yes, come out and protest, protest me, protest our immigration policy, but do it peacefully.
If you assault a law enforcement officer, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.
JD Vance in Minneapolis yesterday.
Now, the mayor of this city responded to the vice president's visit.
Here's what he had to say.
What's changed is that we have 3,000 plus ICE agents and border control that are on our streets without a clear plan.
What's changed is we've got this huge influx of what feels like an occupation in a city in the upper Midwest.
And what's changed is that they are arresting United States citizens.
They are detaining people that have done nothing wrong.
They're going after people exclusively based on the fact that they look like they're Somali or they look like they are Latino.
And no reason beyond that.
They've stopped law enforcement officers that are off duty.
They've stopped fathers that are on their way just to drop off their kids.
There are incredible people in our city that have come from a variety of different places around the country and around the globe.
And they've made our city a better place.
They're part of our family.
We love them.
We're proud to have them here.
So I get that they've got a messaging challenge here.
And it's predominantly because anybody can see with their own two eyes what's going on.
You can't say with a straight face that pulling citizens off the street or going into a school is a targeted action when clearly it's not.
Clearly, what we are seeing on our streets right now is discriminating only on the basis of race and largely indiscriminate thereafter.
So yeah, in Minneapolis, we want to solve crime.
We want to arrest murderers.
Let's do it.
Let's work together to drive down crime.
Again, this is not that.
We have had relationships with a number of federal administrations to successfully drive down crime.
What we are seeing is this is more about political retaliation.
This is more about tragically terrorizing people than it is about safety, than it is even about immigration.
So the job as law enforcement is to keep the peace, to keep Americans safe, and that is literally what I signed up to do and what the federal government signed up to do as well.
And I urge that they do exactly that.
Democratic Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, responding to the vice president's visit to his city yesterday.
New York Times has a feature piece today on Minneapolis, high alert all the time.
Minneapolis sees ICE around every corner.
In the city, anxiety and dread on its empty streets.
Also in Minnesota yesterday, Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic senator, filing paperwork to run for Minnesota governor, trying to replace outgoing governor Democratic Governor Tim Walz.
Complaining About ICE 00:06:22
Inching closer to an announcement is ABC's headline this morning.
After the House approved that Homeland Security measure yesterday, it now goes over to the Senate.
The majority of House Democrats oppose the Homeland Security bill over ICE actions and its operations.
Look to C-SPAN 2 for our coverage of the debate in this Senate and what Senator Amy Klobuchar says about funding for the Homeland Security Department.
Jamie in Pennsylvania, an Independent, good morning.
Support or oppose abolishing ICE?
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I support it.
I mean, I oppose taking away ICE.
I think people in America need to learn from history and actually look at what's going on over in the EU and stuff.
Very good people in my life have become American citizens and have returned back to their countries on their own after a very long time, a lot of money to become an American citizen.
My own grandmother used to go to school only speaking Pennsylvania Dutch and learning English.
We aren't teaching our children English.
And I worked on Alcatraz for four years and Pier 39 for four years.
And let me tell you, 25,000 people a day, 5,000 people a day from all over the world and all over the country.
And I only spoke English and a very few phrases.
It's an international language, our language.
The fight over this is ridiculous.
They came over this country, you know, border and they threw away their passports and stuff.
There is a legal way of coming.
And I suggest that people really do their history, really look into their areas of where these people are coming from.
So, Jamie, so it sounds like you say ICE is needed.
ICE is needed.
And I'm telling you, the government of these states need to be checked too.
Because I lived in California.
I'm telling you, they started running over their federal government things.
We complain about congressmen.
We complain about senators.
We complain to each other.
Right now, the Somalians are saying that we have to go and dictate by their faith.
That's happening all over this world.
Do some research.
All right, Jamie.
Jerry is in Broadway, Virginia, a Republican.
Hi, Jerry.
Yeah, good morning.
No, I don't believe ICE should be abolished.
We need ICE.
They're doing what they were established to do.
And for identification, look, you drive on any highway anywhere in this country.
If a police officer pulls you over for any reason, driving recklessly, no lights on your vehicle, what's the first thing that officer asked you?
He asked for your identification.
Let me see your driver's license.
If you refuse to produce a driver's license or do not have one, you're going to be arrested.
It's up to you to prove that you have a right to drive on their highways.
Isn't that right?
Jerry, there in Virginia, Republican.
Doug's on our line for Democrats in Fairfax, South Dakota.
Doug, go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Greta.
I think they need to be sent back to the border and just take care of the border.
And if they needed, they're needed to governor of the state can ask him to come because they're just creating chaos.
And Christy, she used to be our governor.
And now they gave her a credit card and she ran our credit card up $60,000.
And then she claimed she didn't do it, but she was over there bending over for Trump, over there doing everything he wanted.
And her daughter, she filed for a deal, a license, a sell place, a realtor license or whatever.
And the lady didn't give it to her.
Well, that lady was fired and she got it.
And then there's a lot of things that the puppy killer did up here that she shouldn't have done.
They pulled $60,000 of dark money over somewhere or other her and Corey, her operator, and I think he's actually the one running the show.
And I like to ask these Republicans something.
You know, that Miss Good that was shot, she didn't deserve to die.
And what the government needed to do is break that down because I still don't think that guy was hit by her.
You can see him squaring off and plopping off the shelves.
But anyway, she shouldn't have died.
And then for the Republicans, I like to ask them, you know, them people that attacked the Capitol, should they have been shot?
Because they sure didn't do what the cops told them to do.
So I like to have them Republicans respond to that.
And also, Greta, are you guys hooked up?
ABC?
Because I see on that show or the book show or whatever at the last it got C-SPAN America's Book Club.
It's not ABC.
It's not the network ABC.
It's America's Book Club.
It says slash ABC, though.
Well, the acronym, I guess, may be referred to as ABC, but it's internally at least.
Wearing Masks to Hide Identity 00:12:29
It's America's Book Club.
I just see the ABC has got me curious.
It's with David Rubenstein.
He hosts it.
He's a good host.
He's good at it.
And you can learn more if you go to our website at c-span.org.
Speaking of C-SPAN coverage, here's the New York Times this morning with this picture and testimony.
Jack Smith defends Trump prosecutions.
Law required that the president be held to account, is what he had to say.
C-SPAN cameras were at the hearing yesterday, and we covered Jack Smith's first public testimony.
And in that testimony, he said he expects to be prosecuted.
You can learn more if you go to our website at c-span.org.
You can watch it there in its entirety.
Here's a little bit of his appearance yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee.
President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law.
The very laws he took an oath to uphold.
Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions as alleged in the indictments they returned.
Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.
After leaving office in January of 21, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Social Club and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents.
Highly sensitive national security information was held in a ballroom and a bathroom.
As I testify before the committee today, I want to be clear.
I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including the decision to bring charges against President Trump.
Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.
If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Democrat or a Republican.
No one, no one should be above the law in this country, and the law required that he be held to account.
So that is what I did.
To have done otherwise on the facts of these cases would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant, of which I had no intention of doing.
Jack Smith on Capitol Hill yesterday, again, go to cspan.org if you missed that hearing.
We also covered yesterday health care CEOs testifying twice on Capitol Hill.
Here's a headline from the Economy and Business section of the Washington Post: Ire over health care costs erupts at congressional hearing.
Both Republicans and Democrats grilled the insurance executives over rising premiums, denial of care, and their multi-million dollar compensation.
Go to our website, cspan.org, if you missed those hearings, and you can find them there in their entirety.
In the House yesterday, on the floor, Democrats, the majority of them, opposed a Homeland Security measure to fund the department and ICE.
The measure was approved 220 to 207 because seven Democrats joined with Republicans to approve it.
The Democrats opposed it over ICE's actions.
Some are saying the agency is beyond repair and should be abolished.
This morning, we're asking you: do you support or oppose that idea?
Doug is in Rogers in California, an independent.
Roger, good morning.
Yeah, I have a couple of observations.
Number one, I don't know how you could have these sanctuary cities.
It flies in the face of cooperative law enforcement.
If ICE goes to New York City or Selma, Alabama, or Tallahassee, Florida, it should be assumed that the local jurisdictions would cooperate on these cases.
To me, it is unbelievable that you have this whole notion that cities can actually say we're not going to enforce the law.
To me, that's the primary problem that ICE faces.
Secondly, Homeland Security as a federal department needs to be treated more like the FBI or the CIA.
Homeland Security's chief should be someone who has a 10-year term, who puts them outside of politics, much like the FBI.
I believe it's a 10-year term.
You have to have someone who has that kind of experience.
I disagree with Christy Noam as being the head of Homeland Security.
I think she's woefully incompetent.
She looks like a fool dressed up in these ridiculous outfits she wears.
She has no law enforcement background.
And I think that's another problem.
President made a bad decision with that.
But at the end of the day, these people are breaking the law.
And one of your previous callers said it, and people don't want to listen to this.
You know, if you drive your car and you get stopped and you say, I'm an undocumented driver, you know what they do?
They send you to prison.
That's what they do because you're breaking the law.
And these people are breaking the law.
And then the lack of cooperation between the local and the federal is obnoxious to me.
And no one's addressing that issue.
Okay.
Joseph in Virginia Beach on our line for Republicans.
Joseph, what's your take on this?
Support or oppose abolishing ICE?
If anything, I would make them a million times stronger.
And the only problems that are going on are caused by the Socialist Woke Tard Party with their funding and their constant rhetoric.
You know, it's ridiculous.
This problem's been going on forever, and it's their party that made it 100 times worse with the previous administration.
And these states that are sheltering, feeding, clothing, and hiding these illegals shouldn't get a penny of money from the federal government.
They should be working for America's people, America's legal citizens, not illegals, criminals that are, to me, they're not immigrants, they're criminals.
They came here illegally, and they're committing all kinds of crimes, raising our crime rate and draining all of our money that should be sent on America's people and problems, not on them.
You know.
Okay.
Like I say, ICE is not the problem.
It's the Socialist Woke Tard Party.
All right, Joseph in Virginia Beach, Ken in Florida, independent caller.
Come on in, Greta.
How are you?
Doing well, Ken.
You know, all these people that call in and say this or that about ICE or whatever.
Now, Greta, could you all please tell me that ICE wore masks when Obama, who is known as the deporter-in-chief, was in office, this ICE wear mask.
For all these people that call in and say this or that about ICE should do this, have you noticed ICE had not dragged one white person out the car and beat them up yet?
Not one.
And another thing, too, is why do people wear masks?
Criminals wear masks to go rob a store.
The Ku Klock Klang wear masks, a Kaida wear mask.
Now you got ICE wearing masks.
Why?
Because they know they're doing criminal actions.
Yeah, I support ICE.
I do.
But you know, it's not you for saying, but people know everyone in ICE don't have good intention.
Just like the police force got to weed out all the bad actors.
ICE ain't trying to do that.
All right.
Other people.
We've heard that ICE, some ICE agents are wearing masks because they're concerned about being targeted by opponents, doxing going on.
You heard the vice president talking about that.
So to protect their identity, some are wearing masks has been the argument.
How do you respond?
I respond like this.
Why did the people and the police force wore a mask when they were part of the Ku Klux Klan?
Why?
Why do Al Qaeda wear masks?
Why do ICE wear masks?
They're not doing stuff by the law.
That's why they're wearing masks.
All right, Ken's thoughts there.
Florida in Florida, an independent caller.
More of your calls coming up.
But in case you missed it, President Trump aboard Air Force One talked about this headline in The Guardian: Russia keeps up demands for Ukraine land before three-way talks in the UAE.
Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. will hold talks today.
Here's what President Trump had to say aboard Air Force One overnight, returning from his trip to Davos, Switzerland.
Isn't that trilateral?
Good.
Anytime we meet, it's good.
If you don't meet, nothing's going to happen.
I mean, for the first three years, nobody met.
Under Biden, nobody met.
And you know one thing, if you don't meet, nothing's going to happen.
So we are meeting, and we'll see what happens.
I hope we can save a lot of lives.
Mr. President, what kind of concessions are the platter here?
I can't tell you that.
He'll make concessions.
Everybody's making concessions to get it done.
Europe is going to be a part of it.
It's got to be a part of it.
Look, it's more for Europe than for me.
I mean, I'm doing this more for Europe than for me.
I'm doing it to save lives, number one.
I'm doing it secondarily for Europe.
I'm not doing it so much for the U.
It doesn't affect us very much.
Other than the loss of lives, you know, we're not affected by this.
You know, it's thousands of miles away.
We're separated by an ocean.
But I have an ability to get things done like this, and we'll see if I can get it done.
I mean, it would never have gotten done.
I thought Putin wanted the whole thing.
Maybe he does, but he's not going to be going there unless we don't make a deal.
But we had a good meeting today with President, so it's, I think, a very good meeting.
President Trump ahead of talks today on a possible deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Another headline to share with you before we get back to our conversation from the Wall Street Journal: TikTok finalizes a deal to keep operating in the United States.
The agreement was negotiated to comply with the 2024 law requiring the company to do a deal to address U.S. national security concerns, and the deal was met right at the deadline.
So TikTok wraps up a deal to stay in the United States.
We'll go to Herman in Dallas, Texas, Democratic Caller.
Good morning to you.
Good morning, Greta.
How are you doing?
I've been watching you for a long time, and you're one of my favorites.
I don't necessarily oppose ICE.
You know, I just wish that they had strict regulations on their methods.
And I would like to see them be subordinate to the local and state police, you know, who have regulations on how to use their win and how to use their weapons and who they can stop and things like that.
Hispanic Language Needs in Schools 00:03:49
But just sticking them on this or that state and telling them to go get them, that's not a policy.
All right, okay, we'll go to Tom, who's in Illinois, Republican.
Tom?
Yeah, I got a couple things.
The suicidal empathy.
We can't take on the world.
We're going in debt.
I mean, Harry Reid was a Democrat 30 years ago talking about all this immigration, killing his hospitals and his schools, and we're overwrought.
I mean, I am in a district where all these schools are filled up with kids and we don't have enough people to speak Hispanic language to teach them.
But anyway, I want to say another thing.
Why are we reading, why are we censored to talk about ICE as a subject today?
But why are you guys the other day, Mimi read nine of the 15 minutes we had left about all these topics and just read right through where we got 350 million people with great opinions.
This is where we learn everything about what's going on in America.
And the other thing is, I want to talk about the other subject about Jack Smith.
You keep running tape about him defending himself.
Why aren't you running tape about the hypocrisy of him spying on U.S. senators without a warrant?
Tom, I pointed folks to the website, and that's where they can watch those moments as well.
You can watch it in its entirety if you go to c-span.org.
We'll go to Ann next in Michigan.
Democratic caller.
Hi, good morning, Greta.
Good morning, America.
I would like to see ICE reformed, not abolished.
My dad was a security police in the Air Force.
Somebody else mentioned that they were security police.
I have a lot of respect for law enforcement, but at the same time, I think the way that things are going currently in Minnesota and other states is not okay.
In regards to the masks, I know a couple people have talked about that already, but I feel like that's something that even though they're worried about perhaps being doxxed or being threatened, I mean, you could say that about any of our elected officials right now.
I don't think there's a governor, a senator, a representative, even sometimes school teachers, school board members that aren't afraid and aren't receiving death threats.
And these people have guns and they are paid by taxpayers.
Their salaries are, and I believe that we should get to know who they are.
And if they're not doing anything wrong, I mean, they still could be a target, but you could say that of anybody.
And citizens who are being targeted, they're not, their identities are not being protected.
Also, I'm a little worried about the hiring process that they've been using.
They gave them $50,000 signing bonuses, and also they cut their training in half.
So I think that there's a danger of people who maybe aren't there necessarily for the right reasons.
And I don't know that they're doing the psychological and personality screening to rule out people who might be there because they're kind of aggressive or maybe have anger issues.
You don't want officers.
And Anne, I apologize.
I've got to jump in at that point.
We're going to take a break later on the Washington Journal.
We'll hear from New York Democrat Adriano Espayat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Committee caucus, to discuss ICE operations and immigration enforcement across the United States.
C-SPIRE: Finding Common Ground 00:03:45
But first, Susan B. Anthony, Pro-Life America President Marjorie Danenfeltzer, discusses today's annual national March for Life and prioritizes priorities for the pro-life movement in the year ahead.
Stay with us.
We'll be right back.
Today on C-SPAN Ceasefire, at a time when finding common ground matters most in Washington, Republican Nebraska Congressman Mike Flood and Democratic Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver come together for a conversation on the top issues facing Congress.
including their bipartisan push on housing affordability.
Watch C-SPIRE today at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series.
Sunday with our guest, Christopher Buckley, best-selling satirical author and son of conservative writer William F. Buckley.
He has written more than a dozen books, including The White House Mess, Thank You for Not Smoking, Florence of Arabia, and The Deeply Personal, Losing Mum and Pup.
He joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
You have written 20 books, many of them satires.
Satire is a lost art a bit.
I don't see that many satirists that are best-selling authors.
There are.
Carl Heinson, Dave Barry, although they might be more classified as humorists.
The difference between a satire and a humorist, you would say, is hundreds of thousands of sales.
Watch America's Book Club with Christopher Buckley.
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Washington Journal continues.
Joining us at our table this morning is Marjorie Danenfeltzer.
She is the president of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Group.
Thanks for being here this morning.
Very timely, as you wrote a piece in the Washington Post this morning.
Message to Trump and the GOP pro-life voters are watching.
Be Flexible On Hyde 00:00:53
And you respond to what he had to say recently about being flexible on the so-called Hyde Amendment.
Let's listen to the president.
Let the money go in the healthcare account or however you do it.
Let the money go directly to the people.
Now, you have to be a little flexible on Hyde.
You know that.
You got to be a little flexible.
You got to work something.
You got to use ingenuity.
You got to work.
We're all big fans of everything, but you got to be flexible.
You have to have flexibility.
I came out with a statement: let the money go not to the big fat cats and the insurance companies that made 1,700% over the last short period of time.
Let the money go directly to the people where they can buy their own health care.
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