By Anietie anii-bassey
A fierce standoff over immigration enforcement and civil liberties is pushing Congress toward a potential shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune warning Thursday that Democratic demands for new limits on federal officers are unrealistic and that time is rapidly running out to reach a deal.
Funding for DHS expires next week, and negotiations have stalled after Democrats vowed to block the spending bill unless sweeping changes are made to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies.
Their push follows the fatal shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis last month, including ICU nurse Alex Pretti, who was killed Jan. 24 by a U.S. Border Patrol officer during an enforcement operation that sparked nationwide demonstrations and renewed scrutiny of federal tactics.
Democratic leaders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, released a detailed list of 10 proposals late Wednesday aimed at curbing what they call President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration campaign.
The measures include requiring judicial warrants for arrests and property searches, mandating clearer identification for officers, imposing stricter use-of-force rules, strengthening legal protections for detainees and barring racial profiling.
Congress is renegotiating the DHS funding package after Trump agreed last week to separate it from a larger government-wide measure and extend current spending levels for two weeks while talks continued. Some Republicans initially signaled openness to limited reforms following the Minneapolis shooting, but momentum has slowed, raising the prospect that DHS could begin shutting down as early as Feb. 14.
“This is not a blank check situation where Republicans just do agree to a list of Democrat demands,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said. “The only way to get reforms to ICE is to agree to a bill.” He added that negotiators are “nowhere close” to an agreement.
The DHS budget covers far more than immigration enforcement, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard. Thune warned that a lapse in funding could disrupt air travel and disaster response, invoking the long government closure last year that snarled airports and delayed federal paychecks.
Schumer rejected Republican claims that the proposals amount to political theater. “It’s about people’s basic rights, it’s about people’s safety,” he said, challenging GOP lawmakers to explain which parts of the plan they oppose and why.
The Democratic package calls for ending what they describe as indiscriminate arrests, tightening warrant procedures, clarifying that officers cannot enter private property without judicial approval and requiring confirmation that a detainee is not a U.S. citizen before being held on immigration grounds. It would also prohibit officers from stopping or searching people based on language, accent, job, race or the neighborhoods they are in.
Other provisions would bar immigration agents from wearing masks during routine operations, require visible identification, standardize uniforms and equipment to resemble those of other law enforcement agencies and prevent the use of body-worn cameras to track protesters. Democrats also want stronger safeguards at detention facilities and federal coordination with local governments during enforcement actions.
Republicans have pushed back sharply, arguing that the demands would hamstring officers and amount to a wish list from the party’s progressive wing. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chamber’s second-ranking Republican, labeled the proposals “radical and extreme.” Sen. Katie Britt, who is involved in the talks, called them “a ridiculous Christmas list of demands” and warned that the deadline is fast approaching. “I encourage them to talk to the White House,” she said. “We only have one week left.”
Thune echoed that call, urging Democrats and administration officials to negotiate directly, while declining to say whether either side is prepared to retreat from core positions. Republicans, meanwhile, have floated demands of their own, including measures requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and penalties for cities they argue are not cooperating sufficiently with immigration authorities.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said the responsibility for avoiding a shutdown rests with the GOP, which controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. “The American people want this abuse to stop,” he said, referring to enforcement practices.
With the clock ticking, some lawmakers are exploring narrower options to limit the fallout if talks collapse. One idea is to pass stopgap funding for agencies such as FEMA, TSA and the Coast Guard while continuing to debate immigration enforcement.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state is awaiting disaster relief, urged colleagues to consider funding parts of DHS separately. “Why not take that off the table?” he said. “If it doesn’t look like they can get it done, I really think they should look at a la carte funding of agencies.”
Democrats have expressed openness to that approach, but Thune dismissed it, arguing that carving ICE out of the bill would effectively defund law enforcement. Because the agency already received substantial resources in last year’s tax and spending package, he said, isolating it from routine appropriations would amount to a political maneuver rather than a solution.
ICE is slated to receive roughly $10 billion in the annual funding bill, only a portion of the more than $175 billion the administration is seeking across DHS to carry out its broader border security and deportation agenda.
As negotiators trade accusations and deadlines loom, the confrontation has become one of the most consequential budget fights of the year, testing whether Congress can bridge its deep divide over immigration policy—or whether the nation’s sprawling homeland security apparatus will soon face another costly and disruptive shutdown.
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