Transcript: Attorney Steve Scalise on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Jan. 25, 2026
The following is a transcript of an interview with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Jan. 25, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And now we turn to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who joins us from New Orleans. Hello to you.
HOUSE LEADER STEVE SCALISE: Hello, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I know in addition to being a leader in Congress, you have this unique position of being a victim of political violence yourself. You know how dangerous rhetoric can be. We’ve heard a lot of anger in the last 24 hours, and your colleague Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy said the events in Minneapolis are not only incredibly disturbing, but the credibility of ICE and DHS is at stake. He called for a joint federal and state investigation. Can you join his call?
LEADER CRIMINAL: Well, I don’t question the credibility of ICE. They do an incredibly hard job. Look at all of us, just be sad about what happened in Minneapolis. And this has happened over and over again. I mean, I’m not just talking about ICE. I mean they have some local leadership that has failed. They let their city burn years ago. They have chaos, it seems, all the time in places where other cities don’t. ICE works in many cities, Margaret, and you don’t have these incidents in any other city but Minneapolis–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — You don’t see- you don’t see these numbers either?– .
LEADING MAN: — and so, I wish yesterday never happened. What is that?
MARGARET BRENNAN: You don’t see these numbers, though, when we look at, for example, the federal response in New Orleans. I mean, it’s just a fraction of the number of agents in the organization. About 3,000 is quite a lot for a city the size of Minneapolis.
LEADER CRY: Well, because they didn’t get opposition in cities like New Orleans, where, you know, if you look at Minneapolis, and I listened to the chief, and you could hear him cry four times, I think he said they were arrested a lot. And let’s always remember, Minneapolis is a city that paid its police officers back. That is not the chief’s fault. That is the fault of the failed Democrat leader. But at the same time, when they withdraw money from the police, that leaves the chief thin. So he made the decision not to help ICE– .
MARGARET BRENNAN: – He was talking – he was talking – dealing with the problems of the organization. Because if you look at the Minnesota database, shooting victims are down 76%, homicides are down 67%, burglaries are down 39% year over year, sex crimes are down, robberies are down, auto theft is up. So he was talking about the answer – the agreement that they have now, that the extension that they have now deals with the federal agents that are there.
LEADER’S SHOUT: Yes, but remember, these agents have also arrested thousands of violent criminals in Minneapolis. That’s one of the reasons why crime is down, and we’re seeing that across the country. ICE- look again, whenever something bad happens, we all cry about it. I wish it didn’t happen. But the rhetoric needs to be toned down, but we also need to remember, why is ICE doing this to cities? They use federal law, Margaret. The law says you can’t be here illegally and if you commit a violent crime. The President made it clear, in fact, he was elected. President Trump was elected to remove criminals from our communities. 416,000 criminals were arrested by ICE last year. That has helped make our communities safer.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s interesting that you bring up the politics of this, because arguably, the President was elected on a platform of immigration enforcement. There is a lot of support for it. But our latest poll shows that more than half of Americans say ICE is making communities unsafe, and nearly two-thirds of Americans say they don’t like the President’s approach to his deportation program. There is no public support for the way this policy is implemented. Do you think it should be re-examined?
LEADER’S CHALLENGE: Well, when you poll people, are you looking for violent criminals who are illegally present in your community? Yes or no? What do you think the answer will be? I’ll tell you, a lot, they’ll say, please take out the violent criminals. In fact, you see that on the ground in many, many cities where they cooperate with ICE, where they don’t have sanctuary city policies, and where you don’t see, people walking the streets breaking the law to interfere with law enforcement, which is a serious crime.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’ve been a supporter of the Second Amendment. When Secretary Noem said, “I don’t know of any peaceful protestor who shows up with a gun and bullets instead of a sign.” Do you believe that Americans have the right to bear arms while protesting?
LEADER’S CALL: First of all, I am a sponsor of the Louisiana law that allows you to have a concealed carry permit. Very well done there. I don’t know the state law in Minnesota. I know in a state like Louisiana, and frankly, most states, you are not allowed to carry a gun while committing another crime and interfering with law enforcement is a felony. It is something, unfortunately, that we see in many cities. You even had the chief of police yesterday, Chief O’Hara, who was with you recently, said yesterday about the protests that were going on after the shooting, that it was illegal. Yes, he actually said it was an illegal meeting, which many people do. And they were throwing things at ICE agents. Throwing projectiles that can harm ICE agents–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — Yeah, he wasn’t talking about the victim —
LEADER’S QUOTE: — So, let’s get this down. And–and the leaders in Minnesota, by the way, have been putting together the talk. I mean, you saw the governor, Governor Walz said they were the Gestapo. He said they torture people with violence.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m going to have to take this commercial break and let you finish the thought on the other side of it. If you can stay with us Mholi we have many questions. We will be right back.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Speaker, we have seen the letter that Attorney General Pam Bondi sent to Governor Walz in Minnesota, offering to end the state outbreak if the state does a number of things, including providing access to food assistance programs and voter registration logs. What is the purpose of that? What is the purpose?
LEADER CRY: Well, I haven’t read that letter between Pam Bondi and the governor, but I know we’re investigating tens of billions of dollars in potential fraud from Minnesota. There have been scenes that have already been captured. We have a lot of whistleblowers talking to us about the massive theft of taxpayer money coming out of Minnesota, and these programs are stealing from educational institutions, from students with disabilities, programs that are being stolen, and the Governor has done nothing about it. Congress is –
MARGARET BRENNAN:– But voter registration logs?–
LEADER’S CRY: — Investigate that vigorously.
MARGARET BRENNAN: As a conservative, doesn’t that make you uncomfortable that they want the state to hand out voter registration logs, what’s the purpose of that to end the use of ICE?
LEADER: I haven’t seen the book yet. I know- I know that we are trying in Congress to deal with putting laws on the books that will make sure that we protect the integrity of the vote across the country. States like Minnesota have had problems with voter loyalty. We want a national standard, the SAVE Act, that makes sure illegals can’t vote, but also make sure you show photo ID. Those are the things we push for that exist in all countries.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Non-citizens can’t vote. But I want to ask you ICE- about all the things that happened this week, even before that shooting in Minnesota. ICE has said its officers can enter homes without judicial warrants. ICE shot unarmed Renee Good, as you know, and called her a domestic terrorist. An FBI agent has resigned after being told not to investigate the officer who shot him. ICE detained at least five children, including five-year-old Liam Ramos, who was arrested by masked men. Does this picture sound right to you? Are you comfortable with the way this is done?
LEADER’S SCENE: Let’s remember that the father of a five-year-old child was here illegally, running away from the law enforcement and abandoned his child. ICE actually–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –family–
LEADER CHARACTER: –protect the child–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –The family disputes that. The management has a problem with the previous legal system of managing the asylum, that – they don’t like the operating system that was installed for the asylum.
[START CROSSTALK]THE LEADER’S CHALLENGE: Yes, Joe- Joe Biden is allowed–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –And they argue that he ran away–.
LEADER’S CHALLENGE: –millions of people who will enter our country illegally, including very violent people, Margaret–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –But they’re trying to change the legitimacy of the situation–
LEADER CHARACTER: –people from foreign prisons. President Trump was elected. The headline story last year was President Trump saying–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Absolutely–
LEADER’S SCALE: — I will confirm the boundary, and you do. But you also get rid of violent people. 416,000–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –My father had no criminal record of any kind of violence–
LEADER SPACE: –criminals- illegals arrested by ICE. 416,000 were detained by ICE. These are the worst people, by the way–
MARGARET BRENNAN: 47 percent of ICE detainees have criminal convictions or convictions. 47%.
LEADER’S QUOTE: –ICE just made a website. Not ICE, Homeland Security, the worst of the worst DHS. Go Google the worst of the worst DHS. State by state, they show you all the people taken from each state. In your situation, you can find horrible people, murderers, rapists, street pickers–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –That doesn’t work for dad or five-year-old Liam–
LEADER’S SCALE: –today if President Trump had not protected this country.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –or a two-year-old child who was separated from his mother.
LEADER’S SPACE: — that father was here illegally and abandoned his child–
MARGARET BRENNAN: They’re not too bad, are they?
LEADER SCALE: –Go to the website. It shows you who they took–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Are they worse, sir?
CALL FOR LEADERS: 416,000 people have violent crime records. These are the people – and, well, America today has the lowest homicide rate we’ve had since 1900 in part because of President Trump’s actions to get these violent people off our streets. 416,000 have been removed. Do you want them off our streets?
MARGARET BRENNAN: No.
LEADER’S CRY: I don’t think many people do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No and I don’t think–
LEADER’S CHARACTER: –This is a difficult task that ICE has.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –They do, really–
LEADER’S SCENE: And local law enforcement, local officials, the mayor, the governor, should not encourage people to go out on the streets and break the law by interfering with law enforcement. That is a crime to interfere with law enforcement–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — And American citizens are concerned about the shooting of American citizens, and that’s why we’re asking questions–
LEADER CRY: Yes, and we don’t have that chaos in other cities.
MARGARET BRENNAN: -about the taxpayer funded government —
LEADER’S CRY: –Minneapolis has its problems–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
LEADERSHIP SPACE: –failed leadership has led to many of these, and it is unfortunate that they happened. I wish it didn’t happen. Their failed leaders need to look in the mirror and back off.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I have to go next to our next guest. Leader Scalise, thank you for your time today.
