The death of Renee Good, caused by an agent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota, has triggered a possible funding conflict just as the federal government approaches another shutdown deadline on January 30.
There are efforts to rein in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown following the fatal shooting, and the legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security could serve as a means to achieve this.
Sen. Chris Murphy, the leading Democrat on the sub – committee that supervises the DHS budget, intends to introduce legislation that would mandate agents to have arrest warrants, prohibit them from wearing masks during enforcement operations, restrict the use of guns by ICE in civil actions, and confine the Border Patrol to the border.
He is attempting to rally enough Democrats who will demand safeguards for DHS in exchange for their votes to pass a spending bill for the department.
“Democrats cannot vote for a DHS budget that fails to curb the increasing lawlessness of this agency,” [someone] said on Wednesday.
At least one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, has called for policy changes, stating that the shooting in Minnesota “was devastating and must not happen again.”
“The videos I saw from Minneapolis yesterday are extremely disturbing,” she said in a statement. “As we grieve this loss of life, we need a comprehensive and objective investigation into how and why this occurred.”
Some Democrats in the House, where Republicans hold a very slim majority that has become even narrower, have also said that the legislation for DHS appropriations should be used as a bargaining chip.
And Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested at a news conference on Friday that Democrats should adopt an even more assertive stance.
“I once thought that perhaps we could reform ICE. Now I believe that it has to be dismantled as an institution,” he said. “This unaccounted – for violence is part of its culture. So, we must dismantle it and rebuild it from scratch.”
However, after the longest government shutdown last fall took a significant toll on the economy and social services, top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have indicated that they want to avoid another shutdown a few months later.
Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson admitted on Friday that he is worried that Democrats’ targeting of immigration enforcement funding could disrupt the overall negotiations on government appropriations.
“We should not be reducing funding for Homeland Security at a dangerous time,” Johnson said. “We need officials to let law enforcement carry out their duties. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a crucial function of the government. It is a top concern for Americans, as shown by the last election cycle.”