‘Thugs’: The Moderate Democrat Railing Against ICE

What It Covers

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general and self-described moderate, explains why she supports withholding Department of Homeland Security funding during a partial government shutdown, citing ICE's lowered hiring standards, elimination of use-of-force training, and unconstitutional enforcement tactics in Nevada communities.

Key Questions Answered

• •ICE funding surge: Congress allocated $75 billion to ICE through the "one big beautiful bill," compared to its normal annual budget of $8–10 billion, with no spending restrictions attached. Stephen Miller's quota of 3,000 daily deportations and detainments drove rapid hiring with lowered standards and eliminated de-escalation and use-of-force training protocols.
• •Enforcement misconduct pattern: Before the Minneapolis incident, ICE agents in Las Vegas were conducting roving patrols without judicial warrants, following churchgoers home, and targeting families of local law enforcement officers based solely on immigration status — not criminal history. Cortez Masto frames this as a breakdown of community-policing fundamentals, not legitimate enforcement.
• •Reform demands as law enforcement baseline: The Democratic shutdown demands — visible agent IDs, no masks, and judicial warrants before entry — mirror standard protocols already followed by local and state law enforcement nationwide. Cortez Masto argues these are not new restrictions but a restoration of existing professional conduct norms to federal immigration agents.
• •Swing-state messaging strategy: Cortez Masto's "mod squad" of moderate Senate Democrats circulated internal polling from swing states showing voters want ICE focused on violent criminals and constitutional conduct — not eliminated. The political framing targets equal-thirds Democratic, Republican, and nonpartisan voters in states like Nevada that determine Senate control.
• •Shutdown as electoral leverage: Even without achieving policy reforms, Cortez Masto views the shutdown as a vehicle to win the messaging war on immigration enforcement, positioning Democrats as pro-rule-of-law rather than anti-border-security. The longer-term goal is congressional majority, which would restore oversight, appropriations control, and accountability over the administration.