Former U.S. Rep Joe Walsh (Image courtesy of YouTube/ScreenGrab)
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who is now one of President Donald Trump’s harshest conservative critics, described ICE as “heavily armed masked thugs” in a recent podcast on his personal Substack. Walsh argued in the impassioned monologue that because of their behavior ICE is in fact the “opposite of law enforcement.”
Criticizing ICE agents for wearing masks and entering private property without judicial warrants, Walsh said that law enforcement agents are supposed to identify themselves and follow the Constitution, placing them in stark contrast with their ICE counterparts.
“What these heavily armed masked thugs lawlessly roaming our streets are doing is the utter opposite of law enforcement,” Walsh said. “And there's a reason, by the way — I talk to cops regularly — most cops in this country detest what ICE is doing.”
Walsh proceeded to express disappointment in his “former friend” Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., as well as Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, sarcastically describing them as “those two Constitutionalists — Johnson in Wisconsin, Mike Lee in Utah — who became hardcore MAGA and Trumpists,” which “will always profoundly sadden me.” Walsh again used sarcasm when responding to Johnson, who recently justified ICE’s controversial actions by saying the agents deserve sympathy because they are “afraid.”
“Can you believe it?” Walsh said, facetiously impersonating the righteous indignation of a person bristling at an unreasonable order. “They want judicial warrants! The American people are demanding that ICE have and use judicial warrants if they want to enter a home or a private business, you know, those pesky judicial warrants! That pesky Constitution!”
Regarding ICE’s opposition to wearing masks, Walsh dispensed with sarcasm and was blunt.
“They're wearing masks because they want to scare the shit out of people and intimidate people,” Walsh said. “That's the utter opposite of how law enforcement operates. Local police officers, local cops—man, their realm of the coin is trust. They don't wear masks. They need to have the trust of their local communities. They work on and off of trust. ICE, it's all fear-based.” Walsh then explained how the ICE agent who shot Renee Good was a “thug” who “went against what law enforcement is trained to do.”
Walsh speculated that, instead of being upset by ICE killing protesters and civilians, “Trump wants violence, chaos, and unrest on our streets this year because Trump believes it will help him with the midterms and it will help Republicans in the midterms if there's chaos, violence, and unrest on our streets. That's the whole point. Trump wanted Renee Goode killed. Trump wanted Alex Pretti killed.”
The former Illinois congressman has repeatedly criticized Trump throughout his two terms. For example, when earlier this month Trump denied thrice endorsing losing Republican Texas state senate candidate Leigh Wambsganss, Walsh said “he’s such a horrible person, and such a dishonest person. Yes, he was involved in that race. He endorsed the losing candidate, and she lost 10 percent because of him. She lost 100 percent because of this past year of his chaos, his cruelty, and his incompetence. Her loss was a total rejection of him.”
Walsh has also criticized Trump for everything from his foreign policy, describing him in December as being “on Putin’s side,” to his destruction of the White House’s East Wing to build a ballroom, prompting Walsh to say “this jack—— in the f—— White House is destroying a permanent structure that can't come back.”