WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that Democratic demands for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week unless it works with Republicans and the White House.
Democrats say they won’t vote on a DHS spending bill when funding runs out unless there are “dramatic changes” to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies in the wake of the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis last month.
Democratic leaders Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries released an extensive list of 10 detailed proposals late Wednesday to scale back President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. Among the demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and an end to racial profiling.
Congress is trying to renegotiate the DHS spending bill after Trump last week accepted a Democratic request that it be separated from a larger spending measure and extended at current levels for two weeks while the two sides negotiate. The deal came after intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, and some Republicans agreed that new restrictions were needed.
But after nearly a week, a shutdown is becoming increasingly likely starting Feb. 14, as Republicans have been cold to most of the Democrats’ demands.
“This is not a blank check situation where Republicans just agree to a list of demands from Democrats,” said Thune, RS.D. “The only way to get reforms at ICE is to pass a bill.”
As of now, Thune said, “we’re not even close to having any kind of agreement.”
In addition to ICE and US Customs and Border Protection, the homeland security bill includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. If DHS shuts down, Thune said, “there’s a very good chance we’ll see more travel issues,” similar to last year’s 43-day government shutdown.
Democratic demands
Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was “flabbergasted to hear” Republicans say his party’s proposals are political or unworkable.
“This is about people’s basic rights, people’s safety,” Schumer said. If Republicans don’t like the ideas, he said, “they have to explain why.”
Schumer and Jeffries, D-N.Y., made several demands, including no masks for officers, judicial warrants and better federal coordination with local authorities. The list they released Wednesday added several new elements, including a stricter use-of-force policy, legal safeguards in detention centers and a ban on tracking protesters with body-worn cameras.
Democrats say Congress should end indiscriminate arrests, “improve warrant procedures and standards,” make sure the law is clear that officers cannot enter private property without a warrant, and require that before a person can be detained, they must be verified as not a U.S. citizen.
They also want an end to racial profiling, saying DHS officers should be prohibited from stopping, questioning or searching people “based on an individual’s presence in certain locations, their job, their language and accent, or their race and ethnicity.”
For immigration enforcement officers, Democrats say that in addition to officers removing masks and showing identification, DHS should regulate and standardize uniforms and equipment to align them with other law enforcement agencies.
Republican rejection
Schumer called it a “checking moment for Congress” as immigration enforcement operations rocked Minneapolis and other US cities. But the Republicans were dismissive.
John Barrasso of Wyoming, Senator No. 2 Republican, said the demands were “radical and extreme” and a “far-left wish list.”
Senator Katie Britt, who is helping to lead the negotiations, said the list was “a ridiculous list of Christmas demands” and warned that time was running out before the deadline.
“I encourage them to talk to the White House,” she said. “We only have one week left.”
Until the last financing bill
Thune also encouraged Democrats and the White House to talk. It’s unclear if they are, or if Democrats would be willing to back down on any of their demands.
Some Republicans have demands of their own, including adding legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on cities they say aren’t doing enough to combat illegal immigration.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it’s up to Republicans to make sure the government doesn’t shut down because they’re in charge.
“The American people want this abuse to stop,” Murphy said.
Some seek to limit the pain of stopping
Other lawmakers are looking at options to prevent another partial shutdown.
One idea being floated is to essentially fund some of the other agencies within DHS – the Coast Guard, airport operations under TSA, and disaster assistance from FEMA.
“Why don’t you take that off the table?” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state needs FEMA funds in the wake of recent disasters.
“If it doesn’t look like I can get it done,” he said of overhauling the immigration system. “I think they should look at a la carte funding of agencies.”
Some Democrats said they agreed, but Thune said Thursday that splitting the DHS appropriations bill to identify ICE would “refund law enforcement.”
Splitting the bill would essentially cut ICE, allowing it to do without its routine federal funding because the agency already has such a robust budget from last year’s cut Trump tax and spending bill.
ICE is expected to receive about $10 billion in the annual appropriations bill, a fraction of the $175 billion in additional homeland security for the administration’s mass deportation agenda.
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Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.