During a Wednesday appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) sparked backlash by comparing U.S. law enforcement to authoritarian regimes like North Korea and Iran. The Democrat lawmaker claimed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deploying “masked armed agents ripping civilians out of their cars,” drawing a direct comparison to repressive dictatorships.
Himes made the comments during a discussion about health care, after host Pamela Brown asked how much Democrats were using the issue to mobilize their base against President Donald Trump. The congressman shifted the conversation to recent law enforcement actions, criticizing the use of force by DHS officers during immigration and anti-crime operations.
“There is also no question… that when you see DHS officers slamming into a car of an individual and then ripping the woman… out of that car and forcing her to the ground… maybe in Chile under the dictatorship, maybe in other dictatorships like North Korea and China and Iran, but in this country we don’t have masked armed agents ripping civilians out of their cars,” Himes said.
He insisted that such tactics “must stop,” claiming they are inconsistent with American values.
The comments quickly drew criticism from conservatives who viewed the remarks as an attack on law enforcement and an exaggeration of DHS protocols. Federal officers, often operating under dangerous conditions and tasked with enforcing immigration and national security laws, have been the target of increasing rhetoric from the left as the Biden-era Democrat Party shifts further from its traditional pro-law enforcement roots.
Himes’s comparison of DHS agents to secret police in communist regimes highlights the growing divide between Democrat lawmakers and federal law enforcement officers who are tasked with implementing the Trump administration’s border security and anti-crime priorities.
While Democrats continue to voice concern over health care and immigration enforcement, Republicans argue that such inflammatory language undermines national security and damages the morale of those sworn to uphold the law.
