Chuck Schumer told the entire country last week that nobody respects ICE or Border Patrol.
Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin pressed him on it – and Schumer panicked.
He pivoted, dodged, and when Melugin asked the one question that actually mattered, Schumer had nothing.
Schumer Had No Answer on His "Nobody Respects ICE" Comment
Melugin asked Schumer directly: does he stand by his claim that "nobody in the country respects ICE and Border Patrol?"
Schumer pivoted instantly.
"ICE and Border Patrol, as I have said, need reform. I stand by that," he said.
Melugin didn't let him off the hook.
"Do you believe that nobody respects them though?"
No response.
Not a pivot. Not a dodge. Nothing.
The man who went on the Senate floor and said those agents couldn't answer a single follow-up question about whether he actually believes it.
That silence tells you everything about what Chuck Schumer actually believes.
Democrats Defunded Police in 2020 and Now They Want to Defund ICE
Here's what makes Schumer's floor speech so damaging – it wasn't a slip.
He said it clearly, on the record, into a microphone: "Adding $140 billion to an agency, to two groups, Border Patrol and ICE, that nobody respects in this country."
This came while Schumer was leading the charge to block Republican efforts to fund DHS through budget reconciliation – a move designed specifically to end the 70-day partial government shutdown.
Schumer didn't just oppose funding. He told the whole world those agents aren't worth respecting.
President Trump fired back on Truth Social within hours, calling it "one of the most egregious, incorrect, unpatriotic, and dangerous statements" he had ever heard from a politician and demanding an immediate apology.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin – who served alongside Schumer in the Senate before taking over at DHS – put it more directly on Fox News: "Chuck Schumer, no one respects you."
Mullin then raised something that doesn't get mentioned enough.
Schumer walks around Washington with a taxpayer-funded security detail.
The same man telling America nobody respects ICE has armed federal agents protecting him around the clock.
"How about he walks around these city streets without a detail?" Mullin said. "I wonder how safe he would feel."
Retired Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino – three decades on the southern border, led operations in some of the most contested sectors in the country – said Schumer's comment "epitomizes what the Democrat party stands for."
He went further: "Chuck Schumer's words resonate with radicals on the street who are looking for approval to increase attacks on the men and women of the Border Patrol and ICE."
This isn't a policy disagreement. This is a senator handing ammunition to people who assault federal agents.
Schumer's attack follows the same script Democrats ran in 2020 with the defund the police movement.
In Minneapolis, after Democrats slashed the police budget by $8 million, commercial burglaries jumped 43%, carjackings surged 93%, and murders rose 44%.
Democrats spent two years scrambling to undo that damage and lost House seats over it.
Now they're running the identical play against ICE and Border Patrol – demonize the agents, block the funding, call them a "rogue police force" – and daring Republicans to fight back.
DHS Shutdown Leaves 270,000 Agents Without a Paycheck
DHS has been in partial shutdown since February 14th – more than 70 days.
Trump used emergency executive authority to keep agents paid through April.
That money is gone.
Mullin told Fox News this week: "After we get through April, I've got one payroll left and there is no more emergency funds. The president can't do another executive order for us to use money because there's no more money there."
Two hundred and seventy thousand DHS employees – TSA agents, ICE officers, Border Patrol agents, FEMA workers – are heading into May not knowing if a paycheck is coming.
The Senate did pass a $70 billion budget resolution this week – without a single Democratic vote – that starts the reconciliation process to fund ICE and Border Patrol through 2029.
Schumer's response was to call them "a rogue police force."
His own agents heard every word.
And when Melugin gave him a chance to answer for it, Chuck Schumer had nothing to say.
Sources:
- Bill Melugin, "NEW: I asked Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)…," Fox News / X, April 28, 2026.
- "Trump Calls on Schumer to Apologize for Ripping Border Patrol, ICE," The Washington Times, April 23, 2026.
- "Senate GOP Takes First Step to Fund ICE via Budget Reconciliation," Fox News, April 24, 2026.
- "Exclusive: Former Border Chief Bovino Slams Schumer Over Derogatory Border Patrol-ICE Comments," Breitbart, April 24, 2026.
- Sen. John Barrasso, "Defund-the-Police Democrats Won't Stop Republicans From Fully Funding ICE and Border Patrol," Senate.gov, April 2026.
- Sen. John Kennedy, "Democrats' Defund-the-Police Plan Failed, But Here They Go Again," Fox News Opinion, February 6, 2026.
- "Markwayne Mullin Attacks Chuck Schumer Over Homeland Security Shutdown," The Hill, April 23, 2026.
