Senate Democrats demand DHS funding bill include reforms to ‘rein in ICE’

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, on Wednesday demanded that legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) include a ban on wearing masks and other reforms aimed at federal agents involved in immigration enforcement, setting up a clash with Republicans that could see the government partially shut down in the coming days.Congress is racing to head off a lapse in federal funding from beginning after Friday, and the Senate’s Republican leaders plan to hold a key procedural vote on Thursday on the DHS funding measure and five bills that authorize spending by several other government departments.But following the weekend killing of US citizen Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, Schumer called for the DHS bill to be rewritten and voted on separately. On Wednesday, he announced that Democrats had “united” on a “set of common sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in ICE and end the violence”.These include a prohibition on patrols by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a mandate that they coordinate with local and state police; the imposition of a uniform code of conduct and requirement of independent investigations into violations; and a ban on mask wearing by federal agents, along with a rule that they wear body cameras and carry identification.“These are common sense reforms, ones that America Americans know and expect of law enforcement,” Schumer said. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order, plain and simple. They are choosing to protect ICE from accountability over American lives.”At a press conference held shortly before Schumer unveiled the Democrats’ demands, Senate majority leader John Thune signaled openness to discussing reforms to ICE with Democrats, but no change in the GOP’s plans to begin voting on the spending bills Thursday. All six were approved by the House of Representatives last week.“Democrats have objected, and so we’re anxious to hear what their demands are, what their requests are, what their asks are. I think the administration is willing to sit down with them and have a discussion, perhaps a negotiation about how do we move forward,” Thune said.“But the one thing I do know… is that a government shutdown is not in anybody’s interest.”The Republican leader added that the DHS funding bill includes less money for ICE than what the Trump administration had requested, as well as funds for body cameras for agents and “de-escalation training”, which he called “things that Democrats have said that they wanted”.He noted that failure to pass the DHS bill wouldn’t stop ICE’s operations, since it received tens of billions of dollar from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this year. But it would affect other agencies under DHS such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which is responding to the past week’s wide-ranging winter storm.“I hope we can get this thing back on track. We need to fund the government,” Thune said.Schumer’s demands greatly increase the chances of at least a partial shutdown beginning later this week, because any changes to the DHS funding bill in the Senate require it to be passed again by the House.Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, told reporters that her party has no similar objections to the other five spending bills pending before the Senate, which authorize funds for departments including labor, defense and health and human services through September.“Democrats are ready to avert a shutdown. We have five bills we all agree on – about 95% of the remaining budget. It is ready to go. We can pass those five bills, no problem,” she said.“The ball is in the Republicans’ court, but when it comes to DHS, we cannot ignore what happened on Saturday, especially after what we have seen over the last 12 months. We have to split this bill off and grapple with the brutal reality that ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] are out of control and endangering American citizens.”Republicans control the Senate with 53 seats, and most legislation requires at least 60 votes to clear the filibuster – making bipartisan compromise essential.The Democratic opposition sets up a scenario similar to one that played out last September, when the minority party refused to vote for government funding bills unless tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans were extended. That resulted in the longest government shutdown in history, which ended after 43 days when seven Democratic senators joined with the GOP to reauthorize spending.Most Democratic senators are publicly onboard with the party’s strategy over the DHS appropriations bill, and some have joined calls for homeland security secretary Kristi Noem to resign or be fired over Pretti’s death.John Fetterman, who represents swing state Pennsylvania, is among those supporting Noem’s ouster, but has expressed hesitation with the prospect of a government shutdown.“I’ve … spent significant time hearing many different positions on the funding bills and maintain that I will never vote to shut our government down, especially our defense department,” he said in a statement on Monday.