Washington– A Department of Homeland Security closure appeared certain on Thursday, as lawmakers in the House and Senate were scheduled to leave Washington for a 10-day recess and negotiations with the White House over Democrats’ demands for new restrictions stalled.
Democrats and the White House have exchanged offers in recent days, with Democrats saying they want to impose restrictions on President Donald Trump’s broad immigration enforcement campaign. They called for better identification of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement officials, a new code of conduct for those agencies and more use of injunctions, among other requests.
The White House sent its latest proposal late Wednesday, but Trump told reporters Thursday that some of the Democratic demands would be “very difficult to agree to.”
Democrats said the White House offer, which has not been made public, did not include sufficient restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement after two protesters were shot dead last month. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on Thursday that the offer was “not serious,” after the Senate rejected a bill to fund the department.
Schumer said Americans want accountability and “an end to the chaos.” “The White House and Republicans in Congress must listen and act.”
Lawmakers in both chambers were aware of returning to Washington if the two sides reached an agreement to end the expected shutdown. Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters that Democrats will send the White House a counterproposal over the weekend.
Effect of closure
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the vote that a shutdown seemed likely and that “people who won’t get paid” would pay the price.
The impact of the Department of Homeland Security closure is likely to be minimal at first. It is unlikely to block any immigration enforcement operations, since Trump’s tax-cutting and spending bill passed last year gave ICE about $75 billion to expand detention capacity and bolster enforcement operations.
But other agencies in the department — including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service and the Coast Guard — could take a bigger hit over time.
The Disaster Relief Fund has sufficient balances to continue emergency response activities during the shutdown, but would be severely strained in the event of a catastrophic disaster, Greg Phillips, an associate administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said at a hearing this week.
While the agency continues to respond to threats such as flooding and winter storms, long-term planning and coordination with state and local partners will be “irreversibly impacted,” Phillips said.
Trump defends officer concealment
Trump, who remained largely silent during the bipartisan talks, noted Thursday that a recent court ruling rejected a ban on mask-wearing for federal law enforcement officers.
“We have to protect our law enforcement,” Trump told reporters.
Democrats have made demands for new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies after ICU nurse Alex Pretty was shot to death by a US Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on January 24. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also shot Renee Judd on January 7.
Trump agreed to Democrats’ request to separate the homeland security bill from a larger spending measure that became law last week. This package extended funding for the Department of Homeland Security at current levels only through Friday.
Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said they want immigration officers to remove their masks, show identification and better coordinate with local authorities. They also called for a stricter use-of-force policy for federal officers, legal safeguards in detention centers and a ban on tracking protesters with body cameras.
Democrats also say Congress should end random arrests and require that before a person can be detained, authorities must verify that the person is not a US citizen.
Thune suggested there are potential areas of compromise, including regarding masks. Thune said there might be emergencies “that these people not be slandered.” “I think they can find a place to land.”
But Republicans largely opposed most of the items on Democrats’ list, including the mask ban.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Republicans who have pushed for stronger immigration enforcement would benefit politically from Democrats’ demands.
“If they want to have that discussion, we’ll have that discussion the way they want,” Schmidt said.
Injunctions are a sticking point
Thune, who urged Democrats and the White House to work together, noted that another sticking point is judicial arrest warrants.
“The warrants issue is going to be very difficult for the White House or Republicans,” Thune said of the White House’s latest offer. “But I think there are a lot of other areas where progress and progress have been made.”
Schumer and Jeffries said DHS officers should not be able to enter private property without a warrant and that warrant procedures and standards should be improved. They said they wanted to end “roving patrols” of agents who target people on the streets and in their homes.
Most immigration detentions are conducted under administrative orders. These are internal documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific person but do not allow officers to forcibly enter private homes or other non-public places without their consent. Traditionally, only arrest warrants signed by judges have this power.
But an internal ICE memo obtained by The Associated Press last month allows ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based only on a narrower administrative order to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move advocates say conflicts with Fourth Amendment protections.
Far from agreement
Thune, RD, said there were “concessions” in the White House offer. But he did not say what those concessions were, and admitted that the two sides had come “a long way toward a solution.”
Schumer said it was not enough for the administration to announce an end to the immigration campaign in Minnesota that led to the arrest of thousands and the shooting death of two protesters.
“We need legislation to rein in ICE and end the violence,” Schumer said, otherwise the administration’s actions “could be undone tomorrow on a whim.”
Rising partisan tensions were on display on the Senate floor immediately after the vote, as Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Homeland Security funding, tried to pass a two-week extension of Homeland Security funding, and Democrats objected.
Britt said Democrats were “taking positions” and that federal employees would suffer because of it. “I’m done with it!” I shouted.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Domestic Expenditure Subcommittee, responded that Democrats “want to fund DHS, but they only want to fund a law-abiding department.”
“This is an extraordinary moment in the history of this country,” Murphy said.
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