Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday defended Democrats for not standing at President Donald Trump's invitation during the State of the Union, saying they disagreed with the premise.

Trump had invited members of the audience to stand if they believed the first duty of the U.S. government was to its citizens, not illegal aliens. Very few Democrats stood up. Schumer insisted that they had not done so because they did not believe that Trump's policies were in the best interests of American citizens.

“We agree we need to protect Americans,” he told CNN. “He’s not. By his reckless ICE agency in Minnesota, two Americans were killed. Americans are being pulled out of their cars and beaten. Americans’ houses, the doors are being knocked down, you know, without a warrant.”

The government is currently in a partial shutdown due to the legislature's failure to approve the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill. Democrats have sought concessions on immigration enforcement in the wake of the deaths of two Minneapolis, Minn., anti-ICE demonstrators.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.