Democrats Unveil Proposal for DHS Changes as Funding Deadline Approaches

WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats on Jan. 28 unveiled broad outlines of their proposed changes to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and immigration enforcement, coming amid a looming Friday deadline to pass funding for DHS and several other departments.

“Our caucus is united, is unified over three main legislative objectives,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said during a Wednesday news conference, indicating that the three demands would need to be met to win Democratic support for a bill to fund DHS and its subsidiary agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

First, Schumer said, Democrats are calling for “an end to roving patrols” of ICE agents in U.S. cities. He called for a solution that would require warrants and coordination with local and state law enforcement.

“Second, we want to enforce accountability,” Schumer continued. “Federal agents should be held to the same use-of-force policies that apply to state and local law enforcement, and be held accountable when they violate these rules.”

Finally, Schumer said Democrats are calling for reforms to require ICE and other immigration agents to wear body cameras, remove masks, and always carry proper state identification.

With a Jan. 30 deadline to fund the government fast approaching, Senate Republicans had initially planned to package DHS funding alongside the less contested funding bills for the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.

The package had been expected to pass, as Schumer and other Democratic leaders initially expressed hope of avoiding a repetition of the 43-day government shutdown in 2025.

That changed after immigration agents were involved in a second fatal shooting of an American citizen in Minneapolis.

Schumer called the incident “appalling,” saying that Democrats would withhold support for DHS funding until reforms were made.

The Democratic leader has called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to split the funding package into six standalone bills, providing lawmakers the chance to vote on each package.

Schumer and other Democrats have said that they would back the five other spending bills, with Schumer noting this would leave “96 percent of the federal government … funded.”

However, Thune has pushed back on this demand, citing the risks involved in sending altered or split legislation back to the House.

Speaking shortly before Schumer at a Wednesday press conference on the Hill, Thune indicated that Republicans, including President Donald Trump, are open to negotiating the issue—but said his primary goal is to keep the government from shutting down.

To that end, Thune has expressed his intention to move forward with the original plan to vote on funding as a single package.

“I think the administration is willing to sit down with [Democrats] and have a discussion, perhaps a negotiation, about, ‘How do we move forward?,’ Thune said.

“But the one thing I do know, and that is that a government shutdown is not in anybody’s interest … whether it’s a partial one or a six-bill one.”

“We need to fund the government. We have a bill sitting in the Senate today that does that, that if we pick it up and pass it, can be put on the president’s desk, and all 12 appropriation bills will have been done this year,” Thune said.

Lawmakers Weigh In

A potential alternative, a continuing resolution to keep funding for DHS at previous levels, was rejected by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

“No, not another dime to this lawless operation,” Van Hollen said.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has criticized the administration’s approach to immigration operations—with the senator telling reporters on Jan. 27 that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is “way out of her depth”—told reporters on Wednesday that he didn’t support shutting the government down over the issue.

Tillis cited the impacts a partial shutdown affecting DHS could have on agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).

He argued that Democrats’ demands to split off the DHS bill from the broader package would “stand in the way of FEMA and other disaster response, potentially. So I don’t agree with that either.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), meanwhile, rejected Democrats’ calls for immigration agents to stop wearing masks during operations.

Cornyn described the demand as an “extension of anti-police advocacy, starting with ‘Defund the Police’ and then ‘Abolish ICE.'”