Sen. John Fetterman broke with fellow Democrats to urge federal immigration agents to “round up all the criminals.”
“Deport them. They shouldn’t have ever been here. And they definitely have to go,” he said on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.”
Last week’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Minnesotan woman Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has spurred escalating protests and anti-ICE rhetoric from Democratic leaders.
The Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Good “weaponized her vehicle” against the ICE agent who fired defensive shots while “fearing for his life,” and the ICE officer’s bodycam appears to support that version of events.
When asked by host Will Cain if he has urged his Democratic colleagues to “follow the facts” when it comes to the Minnesota incident, he said everyone can agree that it was a tragedy.
The freshman senator from Pennsylvania said that when he joined the Senate in 2023 with President Biden in the Oval Office, “It was very clear to me that we are failing at our border.”
“It shouldn’t be unreasonable to want to secure our border and do it in that way,” he said.
Mr. Fetterman added that “two things can be true” as people can support deportations while rejecting “the extreme.”
He previously threw his support behind the immigration agency in July, calling calls to abolish ICE “100% inappropriate and outrageous.”
“ICE performs an important job for our country,” he said on social media.
In the Wednesday interview, Mr. Fetterman pointed to other “reasonable” stances, many of which put him at odds with many in his Democratic Party.
“Why can’t we all agree that destroying the Iranian regime would be good for the entire region? Standing with Israel. Secure our border. These are reasonable things. I would also refuse to shut our government down always,” he said.
He acknowledged that many of these stances hurt his standing in parts of his voting base, but he said that does not make him any less of a Democrat.
“And, honestly, if I changed my party this afternoon, my votes really aren’t going to change,” Mr. Fetterman said.
