Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) said Thursday she supports continuing the Department of Homeland Security shutdown despite the FBI’s public warning of Iranian drone attack threats against California, arguing that ICE and Border Patrol are not “focused on the right place.”
Friedman appeared on CNN’s “The Story Is” and was asked directly whether the heightened homeland security threats justified restoring DHS funding, Breitbart reports.
“We have seen different instances where the homeland has been targeted since this war in Iran began,” host Elex Michaelson noted. “Has Congress been briefed at all about the security threats happening in America now?”
Friedman said lawmakers had not been briefed. “Several of us in Los Angeles have asked to be briefed because we heard this vague announcement from the FBI that there are threats of drone attacks from Iran against California,” she said. “So, the FBI put that out into the public, didn’t brief Congress, and now is sort of walking it all back.”
Michaelson pressed her on why Democrats were continuing the shutdown. Republicans, he noted, argue the ongoing DHS fight is “grandstanding” at a moment when the country faces real threats.
Friedman defended the position by pointing to ICE’s budget. “ICE and Border Patrol, through the Republican bill that passed last year, are funded beyond any funding they’ve ever had in the past,” she said. “They are funded more than the United States Marines.”
She said the problem was operational, not financial. “At a time when we’re going after taco sellers and daycare workers, we should be guarding the homeland, and they are not going after people who present a threat in this country,” Friedman said. “The vast majority of ICE targets are random immigrants, many of whom are going through the process of becoming naturalized or having their cases adjudicated.”
The FBI’s warning about potential Iranian-directed drone attacks inside the United States had not been accompanied by a congressional briefing, according to Friedman, who said the situation represented “a lot of chaos going on right now coming out of the White House.”
