If there are no sudden legislative breakthroughs this week, the Department of Homeland Security is headed for a shutdown on Friday.
Democrats say that’s just fine.
As the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown in cities across the United States, Democrats have made their stance known: Reform immigration enforcement, or there will be no DHS funding. And even with a DHS shutdown on the horizon — or what’s supposed to be a shutdown, anyway — Democrats are holding the line.
“Our position has been clear: Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Monday when asked if he’d support a short-term funding patch for DHS. “Period. Full stop.”
While it’s not uncommon to see Jeffries take a hardline position against Republicans, what’s unique about this standoff is that Democrats writ large — in both chambers — seem united. They want major changes at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And if they don’t get them, Democrats are prepared to live in a world where the Department of Homeland Security is in a prolonged shutdown.
The situation became viable last week when Congress finished funding bills until October for everything but DHS, representing 96% of the discretionary budget. With the remaining 4% just belonging to DHS, Democrats are playing hardball with Republicans, with their party almost entirely onboard with a strategy where, if Democrats don’t get everything they want, then they don’t approve any more money for DHS.
After Democrats released a list of 10 demands last week, the White House sent Democrats a counterproposal on DHS reforms on Monday, a White House official told MS NOW. But winning over Democrats will be an uphill climb.
On Monday evening, Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, dismissed the “initial” response as “both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.”
“Democrats await additional detail and text,” they wrote in a joint statement.
Despite the lack of a deal, leaders insist talks are moving in the right direction. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Monday afternoon that “a good back and forth” was ongoing “on substantive issues.”
“So we’ll see where it’s going,” he said, “but it’s progress.”
Thune said he plans to take an initial procedural step for another stopgap on Tuesday, with the length of such a continuing resolution still unclear.
But with time running out and no public progress, Democrats across the ideological spectrum — from liberals to centrists — are cutting to the chase: They won’t support another funding patch for DHS.
“The American people are telling us that they want major reforms with how DHS is operating — the protests, the polling that comes out, even Republicans are saying this is too much. So I’m okay with it lapsing,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., told MS NOW. “I don’t think we need to have another CR, that’s kicking the can down the road and it’s not addressing the serious institutional issues with how DHS has been constricted and is operating.”
She added that the American people were essentially advocating Democrats to “boycott” DHS funding. “You would do it with every other rogue corporation,” Kamlager-Dove said, “so why would we not do it to DHS?”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., struck a similar note, arguing that another funding patch for DHS isn’t the answer.
“I don’t think that constant funding of DHS is what’s gonna get us closer to a solution here, and if anything, they’re just kind of being rewarded for not making progress and not being responsive to the concerns of everyday Americans,” Ocasio-Cortez said Monday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also said more money for DHS is off the table, regardless of how long it would last: “I am deeply opposed to any additional funding package for DHS unless there are real, far-reaching, fundamental reforms that rein in an agency that is out of control, doing brutality and violence, and I think we need to hang tough.”
But it’s not just progressives arguing that Democrats shouldn’t approve another dime of funding for DHS.
Notably, several of the more moderate Democratic Senators who worked with Republicans to end the fall’s record-breaking shutdown are also expressing little interest in a stopgap bill.
“If they’re not willing to work with us, I don’t support a continuing resolution, they need to work with us on reforms,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada told reporters Monday. “The public demands it. That’s all we’re asking.”
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who also sided with Republicans on government funding last year, was more succinct: Asked if he’d be open to another stopgap bill come Friday, his answer was “no.”
“I can’t in good conscience be complicit in what ICE is doing,” King said. Republicans have known that winning over the majority of Democrats on DHS funding was always an uphill battle. But many thought they’d at least be able to rely on a handful of the swingiest Democrats in the Senate to get them over the 60-vote filibuster threshold. That doesn’t appear to be happening, even though a shutdown wouldn’t stop ICE. Throughout these funding talks, Republicans have known that they approved $178 billion in funding for DHS as part of their sprawling reconciliation bill last summer, including $75 billion for ICE. While ICE would continue operating just fine without a funding bill, other parts of DHS, like the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, could face challenges. Democrats have incentives to pass DHS funding, particularly when new money could come with some new restrictions on immigration enforcement. What Republicans may have underestimated, however, is the political incentives for Democrats to just oppose any new funding — even if it means there aren’t new restrictions. Republicans would own ICE and the agency’s increasingly unpopular activities, and Democrats would show their base that they’re fighting back against the Trump administration. Of course, this is all subject to change. Near the end of January, Congress was on track to finalize funding for all aspects of the federal government. But then Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed at the hand of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Democrats quickly objected to giving ICE any additional funding without expansive reforms to how ICE operates, prompting Schumer to reach a deal with President Donald Trump. The agreement stripped full-year funding for DHS from the overall spending package, instead coupling a temporary, two-week extension of funding for DHS alongside the full-year funding for much of the remainder of government. The two weeks, Schumer argued, would give Democrats time to reach a deal with Republicans on reforms. Days later, Schumer joined Jeffries in releasing a list of the Democratic demands: 10 ideas for reforms at DHS and ICE, including barring DHS officers from entering private property without a judiciary warrant, barring ICE agents from wearing masks, mandating agents doing enforcement display their identification number and last name, prohibiting enforcement at sensitive locations like schools and polling places, and outlining use of force policies. Republicans have already objected to several of those ideas — the most controversial among GOP lawmakers being the requirement that agents to take off their masks — spelling trouble for the negotiations. “We’ve got to talk about things that are reasonable and achievable, and those just aren’t,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said of the Democratic demands.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW. Recommended
