Video: Sen. Mark Warner on His Bill to Require ICE Agents to Be Unmasked – “I can’t go on the Senate floor wearing a bag over my head and introduce a bill; I think the same should be the case for law enforcement.”

See below for video and some highlights from Sen. Mark Warner’s weekly press availability, held earlier today.

• “The first is a bill that Tim Kaine and I introduced today that goes at the issue of the masking and failure to identify themselves from many ICE agents. First of all, I think we can absolutely be for a secure border, but also not believe that people ought to be arbitrarily picked up dropping off kids going to school or going to work, particularly when they’ve they’ve…committed no crime in this country. As I’m sure many of you know, the ICE budget was so dramatically increased in the big ugly bill that ICE’s current budget at $37.5 billion is larger than the FBI’s budget entirely. So picking up people and deporting them is more significant than than all the crime investigations. It’s actually the ICE budget is bigger than all of the militaries in the world except for the the top 15…So with these resources, what we’re trying to say is that existing rules for state troopers, for your sheriff, for your local policeman, they don’t come masked to carry out their duties. So, we think the standard ought to be for ICE the same as it is for the state police or for your local cop that you should be able to identify yourself. You should be able to see [their] face. This is important for law enforcement, because people, as we’ve seen with the tragedy in Minnesota a number of months back where people will appear to be law enforcement or not and that shot a couple of legislators. So, we think that we ought to have that ability to be transparent. I can’t go on the Senate floor wearing a bag over my head and, you know, introduce a bill. I think the same should be the case for law enforcement. Obviously, there are certain exemptions and those include if you’re undercover or if you’re on a SWAT team. We also acknowledge that there are legitimate concerns from law enforcement about being doxed, which is, you know, the process over the internet where you get harassed. So we also provide resources in this bill so that law enforcement members, particularly ICE, if they want to get the kind of privacy protections that will allow them to scrape some of their data on the internet and not be able to be harassed at home. We think that makes sense as well. This balanced approach is why we’ve already received broad support from a law enforcement…a number of immigration groups, from SEIU, the union that represents a lot of migrant workers. So we think this approach that recognizes law enforcement’s legitimate concerns, but also says that ICE should not have a different standard of masking and unmasking than your state trooper or your sheriff or your local police officer, makes sense. And my hope is that we can pick up some support on that and move forward on this issue, because I think the American people in overwhelming numbers are turned off to these kind of arbitrary raids that are taking place across communities where people are being picked up and deported, many many times without even any kind of criminal records at all.”
• “The next, on a more hopeful note, is housing legislation that I was proud to be part of that passed out of the banking and housing committee this week, very bipartisan, unanimously passed out. My piece of the bill approached how communities can take blighted buildings and what I’ve been particularly interested in is old strip malls – I mean, there’s not a community in Virginia that I visited that doesn’t have a a deserted strip mall somewhere within their community borders – and able to see if you can convert that to housing. It’s a program that builds upon an existing successful program called the home program. My bill is bipartisan. It’s included in this package. Also, in this package, there’s increases in modular housing, which is really important for housing supply. And modular housing of today is a lot different than it was 25 years ago. A lot of increased incentives for local communities to cut back on some of the regulations that would again increase housing supply…End of the day, we’ve got to bring a whole lot more housing. We’re about 4.7 million units short. And it’s just outrageous that because we don’t have enough housing supply, because we’ve got people locked into mortgage rates, that the basic age in America today for buying your first home is 38. You know, a decade ago, it was in the 20s…And we all know home ownership is the path to the middle class. And if people can’t afford a home until they’re almost 40, you know, that’s going to cut out a lot of people’s opportunities in this country. And we both have to increase supply. And this bill takes a a great step forward. I’m proud it’s bipartisan. I hope we’ll get to the floor of the Senate soon. I think there’s more things we need to do, and I’ll be rolling out more housing um legislation shortly, but uh this is at least a step in the right direction.”
• “Another bill that Tim Kaine and I introduced today is one that would roll back in the big ugly bill the draconian mean-spirited healthcare cuts on Medicaid. We’ve seen the projections that about 11 million Americans, over 300,000 Virginians, will lose their health care because of these Medicaid cuts and healthcare cuts in the bill. We don’t think that is appropriate. So we reinstate the health care program and the Medicaid program. And again, the Medicaid cuts will ripple through the whole system as…so many rural hospitals depend upon those Medicaid revenues. But what we also do is get ahead of…stop the the [next] shoe to drop. And that is the issue that the big ugly bill was silent on extension of what’s called the Affordable Care Act subsidies that go into the private marketplace…if we don’t renew these subsidies, that’ll be another six or seven million Americans, hundreds of thousands of Virginians that will lose their health insurance, because it will drive up monthly cost, you know, 600, 700, 800 bucks a month, and Virginians will start to see those costs already passed on, because the insurance companies have to build their rates based upon the presumption…that, you know, the Republicans are not going to renew these subsidies into the marketplace. So our bill would say for anybody, hey, if you want to acknowledge you made a mistake on the big ugly bill and that we shouldn’t rob health insurance from the marketplace and Medicaid of now estimates of 17 to 18 million people, then sign on and we’ll be anxious to see how many Republicans who are having second thoughts will actually join us in this effort”
• “I joined with almost all the Democratic colleagues yesterday to introduce legislation that would force the release of the Epstein files. I mean, the hypocrisy of Donald Trump knows no bounds. Remember, one of the ways he got elected was claiming that he would release these files. He would go after the rich and powerful. We all remember the attorney general Bondi saying she had them on her desk and there was going to be juiciness in them. Suddenly they reversed course. Now is that because the attorney general told Trump that his name is mentioned in these files? We don’t know, but that’s been reported in the press. In terms of national security implications, I’ve seen and heard some of these conspiracy theories about Epstein somehow being an agent of our government or a foreign government. I’ve seen no evidence of that. But the best way we could figure that out is to release them. And I just…would hope particularly the president’s MAGA base will keep up the pressure…They think Donald Trump can do no wrong. Well, if he can do no wrong, he ought to keep his word and release these files. And I think at some point…they are going to come out…I just don’t think this issue … which continues to dominate the news no matter how many distractions that are thrown at it. And…you mentioned that the intelligence community Tulsi Gabbard continues to do irresponsible actions, releasing classified files, trying to relitigate the 2016 Russian intervention. And I’d say anybody that wants to read about the Russian intervention in 2016 read the five volumes of the Senate bipartisan report, the most thorough, thousands of pages, completely bipartisan, that said yes, Russia didn’t mess with the vote, but they did definitely have a preferred candidate and had a disinformation and misinformation campaign. And you know, Gabbard has been grossly inefficient at distraction just as she’d been grossly inefficient at her job. But, end of the day, one way or the other, I think Trump is going to be forced to release these Epstein files and let’s let the the truth come out.”
• “…remember, the fact is we’ve all seen the videos of people being picked up or chased around a neighborhood and our eyes don’t lie. The videos I’ve seen, and I’m not saying this happens every time, is that they’re covered. And I sure as hell have not seen any indication of their law enforcement status. So I think we need a law. And again, we are not asking ICE to do something that’s not all already a requirement for your state troopers, for your sheriff’s offices, for your local police departments. They know, frankly, having trust with the community and part of that trust comes from being visible, that strengthens law enforcement. So I think ICE’s denial is a reason why we need this legislation. And again, unlike some of the other bills that are out there, we’re actually trying to get something passed. So, we acknowledge that there are plenty of circumstances where an officer might need to be masked – if he or she is undercover…we’ve all seen SWAT team attacks where you you need to have that cover because you could be in harm’s way. And we also acknowledge that if you become the kind of online victim of doxing, we will provide resources to the law enforcement officer, the ICE officer to have their privacy protected online. And and the fact that we’ve got a law enforcement organization backing us as well as some of the immigration groups, I think shows that we may have some runway here. But back in terms of the ICE denial, I think the American public, anyone who’s followed this and seen the videos over the last 6 months, they’re going to believe their eyes. They’re not going to believe some bureaucrat coming out of ICE.”
• “First of all, you know, this [the death of Seaman Angelina Resendiz] is an enormous tragedy and the family, my heart goes out to them. You know, they deserve answers. All sailors deserve answers. Clearly, the body was really decayed. So I’m hoping we’re going to get these answers on process, procedure, if there are improvements need to be made. I’ve already had a personal call with Secretary Phelan and told him we’re going to be sending this letter and, you know, are going to be expecting results. He was very familiar with the case. So we’re going to stay on them. You know, the family deserves answers, but for that matter, the family of sailors all across America deserve answers so that we can – if there were protocol mistakes, if there are procedures that need to be improved, we can learn from this tragedy. And you know…the more information we can get to the family obviously that will also help hopefully with their closure as well. But I am ptimistic because the secretary in my conversation was very familiar with the case and I told him we’re going to come with very specific questions.”
• “I went to law school, but I would never claim that I was ever a lawyer. Never practiced law. So, I think the basis goes back to clearly the legislature has the ability, the General Assembly has the ability to reject a governor’s appointment. The question, I guess, that’s being litigated is whether the committee that voted that down, voted against these appointments is the same as, you know, the whole General Assembly. I don’t know how this is going to play out. I know the judge has put the order in place to say that these individuals cannot serve. I’m a big believer that – and one of the things I took great pride when I was governor, I had a bipartisan commission that recommended appointments to me for our universities so that we tried not to get too ideological on either end. I think Virginia’s got some of the best universities, public universities in the country. I think we have a very strong governance system where our boards do a very good job of governing our universities. And it’s one of the reasons that so concerned me about what is coming out of this both department of justice and department of education, you know, the brutal threats to the University of Virginia that pressed and pressured President Ryan out of his job. I wish that board had stood up more for him. Because it felt like, you know, the very group that says we ought to believe in states rights, that that was part of the Trump agenda, well, that they want to believe in states rights until they can interfere because they don’t like the political or whatever that’s going on. We saw that at UVA. We’re now seeing it at George Mason, where Senator Kaine and I have raised concerns. And I’m very happy to see the business community step up and say no, we’re going to stand behind George Mason. But we’ve again got what appears to be a very politically motivated effort to interfere in George Mason. You know, the idea that they’re trying to go after you the faculty senate. All this is a an attempt to try to scare people into submission. And I think it’s really important that our boards of visitors, you know, they should know what’s going on on the ground, and if there’s inappropriate actions, have at it. But if it’s not, they should stand up in a much stronger way against this political interference from this Trump administration.”
• “Well, first of all, if this turns into a problem, it’s due to one thing, unprecedented actions by this president to basically undermine Congress’s power of the purse. This is is not a made-up law. Read the Constitution. Congress has the power of appropriating and spending money. And there is a legitimate question to be asked and we’re already seeing it now. For example, you know, I’ve been a big advocate for community development financial institutions. There’s $325 million that needs to be spent out by the end of the the fiscal year. You know, this is not a partisan issue. You know, Russ Vought at OMB is sitting on it. Treasury says they want it spent. So we’ve got 13 Democrats, 13 Republicans, and I’m talking about the chairman of the finance committee, Mike Crapo, the chairman of the banking committee, Tim Scott, have said release the darn money. So there is a question whether if you go through the bipartisan process, because it is still the budget – unlike the House, it still requires 60 votes in the Senate where simple majority in the House that says, hey, you know, if we go through this process, you can’t renege after the fact. And I think, that’s kind of insider baseball, I’ll acknowledge, but it’s always been…the kind of rules of the road, literally for decades and decades. I mean, it was also the rules of the road that were adhered to by Trump in the first Trump administration. So what I think as we get into the kind of end of the year shutdown, one of the things I’m going to be urging is that we ought to, you know, both preserve Americans’ healthcare. Part of that means extending the subsidies that go into the marketplace in the ACA, because if those disappear, this will trickle through the whole health care system…another couple million people showing up in emergency rooms in Virginia. That’s not only going to shut down rural hospitals, but that means all that uncompensated care has to be passed along. Who’s going to pay? It’s you and me.”
• “I mean it was a horrific attack. I know the councilman [Lee Vogler]. But I don’t know what were the circumstances. So I heard about the attack…bits and pieces yesterday afternoon, but I don’t know whether it was gossip or factual. So, I’m not going to weigh in without having additional information, but the basic attack itself was a brutal crime and and the perpetrator should be prosecuted.”
• “I’ve not seen exact data on Virginia, but I can tell you from personal experience, I’ve been doing town halls, and I think about the town halls I did in like the Republican districts that surrounded greater Washington. I did one in Winchester, Charlottesville, Chesterfield outside of Richmond. And in these town halls, 70%-80% of the people either had a family member or knew someone that had been affected by DOGE, whether it was as a government contractor or government employee. We focus a lot on the employees, but there’s also been dramatic cutbacks on the contractors. I’d also echo the fact that the permanent committee on investigations, now it was just the Democrats, came out with the report yesterday that I’ve not had a chance to review yet, that literally says that the DOGE effort has cost the taxpayer so far about $13 billion, hasn’t saved a dime. And I believe that’s true. and I want to look at the data. But the fact is, the sloppiness of this operation…firing people, bringing them back, restarting, all that has costs. If anybody had ever run a business before, as somebody who’s run a number of businesses, you know, that kind of uncertainty, that kind of jerking around, that kind of chaos costs money. So, I think a smart DOGE would have made sense. And one of the things that I’m committed to is, if Democrats come back, how do you rebuild some of these programs and services that are essential but with a whole new model? How do we think about only paying for programs that actually work? Only paying for programs that are based on, for example, job training programs after somebody’s been placed in a job and they stayed there for six months. trying to use technology a lot better to make, you know, government more user friendly. That’s what should have happened. At least this senator thinks if the Democrats come back, what they shouldn’t do is just rebuild back to the old numbers. No, this is a real chance to do major reform and hopefully then you bring back some of the expertise that we’re losing. And that’s sometimes not even quantifiable. The last thing I would just add on this… the other thing that I’m hugely concerned about and this goes beyond DOGE, although it affects government employees and contractors as well, is I think we’re starting to see and I think this will accelerate at an enormous pace, AI get into more and more operations and that will increase productivity. But what I’m concerned about, and you know we can’t reverse this necessarily, but you know all those starter jobs that are even coming out of college, whether it’s in the government as an analyst or you know in the financial sector as an analyst, a lot of those jobs are never going to come back, because AI can do it quicker, faster, and in a frankly more efficient way. So, one of the areas that I think we’re going to need to think about is, you know, government retraining programs generally have had a bad record, but we’re going to need not a whole of government, we’re going to need a whole of society to think about how we grapple with AI dislocation. And boy oh boy, I hear it from college students and and folks going to college and from folks right out of college that not only are older folks not leaving the workforce in the same numbers, because there’s so much uncertainty, but also that AI is destroying a lot of these entry-level jobs and sorting this out, I think, is going to be one of the biggest issues to come.”