House speaker says ICE is allowed to break down your door

House Speaker Mike Johnson, flanked by GOP leadership, held a press conference ahead of a vote on the government funding bill that’s been complicated by calls to rein in federal immigration agents.

Johnson, who boasts of having practiced “constitutional law” for two decades, had nowhere to run to when asked to explain Fourth Amendment protections if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement goon tries to enter someone’s home.

“So when ICE goes to execute a warrant, it's an administrative warrant and it's issued by an immigration judge, and that is a sufficient, legal authority to go and apprehend someone,” he said. “They have violated the law. They crossed over our border illegally and they're here and without any right to be here. Okay, that's what's happening.” 

No sugar-coating it: Daily Kos needs your help. Can you chip in $5 today?

In fact, that is not what has been “happening” in many cases, including the recent detention of a five-year-old Minnesota child and his father, who were taken by ICE from their driveway and sent to Texas—despite having entered the United States legally and applied for asylum in compliance with the law.

And as the ACLU has noted, the administrative warrant that Johnson is hiding behind does not actually grant ICE agents the authority to enter a person’s home. 

Continuing, Johnson attempted to portray Democrats’ insistence on judicial warrants as some novel legal invention. 

No billionaire backers, no paywalls. Daily Kos news exists because of YOU, our small-donor community. Now, we need your help. Please donate today.

“The controversy has [erupted],” Johnson said. “Where if someone is, you know, they're going to be apprehended, and they run behind a closed door and lock the door, I mean, what is ICE supposed to do?” 

Of course, there are laws for that scenario, which include getting a judicial warrant. And if the individual poses a genuine threat or is suspected of a violent crime, securing one should be very easy to accomplish.

But that’s the real issue for an out-of-control paramilitary whose claims of targeting only the “worst of the worst” don’t hold any water.

Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.

We're not asking for much

The average donation to Daily Kos is just $9.44. These gifts may seem small, but they’re a big deal to us—in fact, they’re our largest source of income. We couldn’t keep going without them. Will you join thousands of other Daily Kos readers and donate $9.44 right now to help us close our funding gap?