Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro sounded less like a chief executive and more like an activist Sunday morning when he lashed out at President Donald Trump’s renewed immigration enforcement efforts.
Appearing on ABC’s This Week with host Martha Raddatz, Shapiro blasted the administration’s ICE operations as “compromised and unconstitutional,” accusing the president of sending federal agents into communities on missions he claims violate civil liberties.
The comments come as the Trump administration ramps up enforcement nationwide, deploying agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol to target illegal immigrants — particularly those with criminal records. In states like Texas and Florida, those efforts have been coordinated with local authorities. In more resistant jurisdictions, including Minneapolis, federal agents have conducted high-profile operations despite pushback from local leaders.
Shapiro made clear he is not a fan.
When asked about leadership changes within ICE operations in Minnesota and whether a more targeted strategy might ease tensions, Shapiro dismissed the question. “To me, it’s less important who’s in charge,” he said. “What’s more important is that these individuals are being sent out on what I think are compromised and unconstitutional missions.”
He placed the blame squarely on the president.
“The direction’s coming from the President of the United States,” Shapiro added, suggesting the enforcement push itself is illegitimate.
Raddatz pressed further, asking what Shapiro would do if ICE surged into Pennsylvania.
The governor compared potential federal immigration enforcement to a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
“We are prepared,” he said. “Governors prepare for all kinds of emergencies — for a weather emergency or, God forbid, a terrorist incident or a shooting. We are now preparing, should the federal government, against our will, deploy federal officials into our communities.”
The implication was striking: enforcing federal immigration law, in Shapiro’s view, ranks alongside hurricanes and terror attacks as something to brace against.
Shapiro went on to recount a governors’ meeting where President Trump allegedly said federal agents would focus on jurisdictions that welcome cooperation. “We do not want that kind of chaos in our communities in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “So don’t come. But if you come, we are prepared to address it.”
The exchange grew more revealing when Raddatz cited polling showing that 70 percent of Democrats support abolishing ICE and asked Shapiro directly whether he agrees.
Like many Democrats wary of the political fallout from the “Defund the Police” era, Shapiro sidestepped.
“I think what’s clear is that ICE is not working,” he said, criticizing what he called unconstitutional practices. He stopped short of endorsing abolition but repeatedly suggested the agency is being directed to violate rights.
What Shapiro did not address is the core issue driving the enforcement surge: millions of illegal border crossings in recent years and the presence of criminal noncitizens in American communities. For many voters, the question isn’t whether ICE should exist — it’s why federal immigration law wasn’t enforced more aggressively sooner.
The clash underscores a widening divide between blue-state governors and a White House determined to reassert federal authority over immigration. While Shapiro frames enforcement as chaos, supporters of the president see it as long-overdue action.
If this is the line Democrats plan to take heading into the next election cycle — likening immigration enforcement to a crisis — Republicans are unlikely to complain.
