The White House on Feb. 18 dismissed a Democratic counterproposal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as “very unserious,” as the partial shutdown of the agency entered its fifth day.
During a news briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Democrats sent a revised offer to the Trump administration the previous night but that it was rejected.
“Last night, they sent over a counterproposal that, frankly, was very unserious, and we hope they get serious very soon, because Americans are going to be impacted by this,” she said.
Leavitt did not provide details about the contents of the proposal. The offices of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not respond by publication time to requests for comment.
The shutdown began on Feb. 13 after Democrats declined to support funding for DHS beyond a temporary two-week extension. Negotiations have stalled over disagreements about immigration enforcement policies.
Democratic leaders have said reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection are necessary before they will back a long-term funding bill. This comes after two protesters were shot and killed in altercations with federal immigration officers.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two sides remain far from an agreement.
“In terms of the written offer that was transmitted from the Democrats, the parties are still pretty far apart,” the official told The Epoch Times in an email.
“The administration remains interested in good-faith conversations to end the Democrat shutdown before more Americans feel the impacts,” the official wrote. “But the administration also remains committed to carrying out the president’s promise to enforce federal immigration law.”
Jeffries criticized immigration operations and said that without reforms, the DHS funding bill would not move forward.
“It is our view that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just, and it should be humane,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Feb. 18. “That’s not what’s happening right now in the United States of America, and that’s why ICE needs to be reformed in a dramatic, bold, meaningful, and transformational manner.”
Democrats have outlined 10 proposed changes to immigration enforcement in exchange for supporting DHS funding. Their demands include limiting enforcement to targeted operations, requiring judicial warrants before entering private property, ending what they allege are indiscriminate arrests, strengthening warrant standards, and requiring agents to verify citizenship status before placing individuals in immigration detention.
Additional proposals include requiring agents to remain unmasked and display identification during operations and prohibiting immigration raids at sensitive locations such as schools and churches.
White House border czar Tom Homan has said ICE is operating within the framework set by Congress when it comes to warrants.
“Congress themselves wrote the Immigration Nationality Act that gave power on the administrative warrant to arrest somebody, and that’s what’s set up in federal statutes,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Feb. 15. “So if Congress wants that change, then Congress can legislate.”
Homan also said that face coverings are necessary because “threats against ICE officers are up over 1,500 percent” and “actual assaults and threats are up over 8,000 percent.”
Although many agencies under the DHS umbrella are now unfunded during the shutdown, ICE and Customs and Border Protection operations are largely unimpeded because those agencies were funded in President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and spending legislation enacted last year.
Emel Akan and Chase Smith contributed to this report.
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