Once again, Senator John Fetterman has stumbled into saying something that sounds suspiciously like common sense, and it is driving his own party absolutely nuts. As anti ICE protests spiral into chaos in cities like Minneapolis, with federal agents being attacked and vehicles vandalized, Fetterman went on Fox News and did the unthinkable for a modern Democrat. He defended immigration enforcement.
Let that sink in for a moment.
While much of the Democrat party is busy treating ICE agents like villains and illegal immigrants like untouchable mascots, Fetterman cut through the nonsense. He pointed out that the majority of illegal immigrants being deported have criminal backgrounds and said exactly what most Americans already believe. “Round up all the criminals,” he said. “Deport them! They should have never been here, and they definitely have to go.”
🚨 BREAKING: Democrat Sen. John Fetterman comes out in FULL SUPPORT of ICE’s deployments nationwide
“Round up ALL the criminals! DEPORT THEM! They definitely have to go!”
Don’t let liberals fool you: this is the MAJORITY opinion in America!
pic.twitter.com/BocF3UaPn5— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 14, 2026
That statement alone probably caused several progressive staffers to spill their oat milk lattes.
Fetterman is not suddenly a conservative hero, and nobody is pretending he is. But in a party that often refuses to acknowledge reality, even a partial admission of truth feels like a breath of fresh air. The facts are not complicated. ICE is not roaming neighborhoods snatching random grandmothers out of bakeries. They are targeting people who broke the law to get here and then broke more laws once they arrived. That is not cruelty, that is enforcement.
This was not an isolated moment either. Last week, after Renee Good was shot and killed when she attempted to run over an ICE officer, Fetterman again broke ranks and voiced support for ICE. He also called for everyone to “turn the temperature down,” a polite way of saying that demonizing law enforcement has consequences. Violent rhetoric leads to violent behavior, and pretending otherwise is willful ignorance.
To be fair, Fetterman still added the usual Democrat caveat, saying he does not support ICE targeting “otherwise hardworking people.” That is where he is still missing the final piece of the puzzle. Anyone who entered the country illegally committed a crime. That does not mean every case is identical, but it does mean the line was already crossed. You do not get to redefine the law based on vibes and feelings.
Still, compared to the rest of his party, Fetterman is light years ahead. While Democrats in city halls and state capitols obstruct federal agents and flirt with outright nullification, he is at least acknowledging that borders matter and laws exist for a reason.
President Trump has been crystal clear on this issue from day one. A country without borders is not a country. ICE agents are not the problem, they are doing the job politicians are too cowardly to defend. Fetterman is inching closer to that truth, even if he does not want to admit where it leads.
So how long before he takes the final step and breaks completely from the Democrat party’s open borders fantasy? He is close. Painfully close. Whether he has the backbone to go the rest of the way is another question entirely.