The killing of Renee Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota has sparked a potential battle over funding just as the federal government faces another Jan. 30 shutdown deadline.
Democrats in Congress are considering ways Legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security could be one tool to curb President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration in the wake of deadly shootings.
Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees the Department of Homeland Security budget, plans to introduce legislation that would require agents to have arrest warrants, ban them from wearing masks during law enforcement operations, limit ICE’s use of firearms in civil proceedings and limit Border Patrol to the border.
He is trying to rally enough Democrats to ask the Department of Homeland Security to put up guardrails in exchange for their votes to pass the department’s spending bill, Sources told Axios.
“Democrats cannot vote for a Department of Homeland Security budget that does nothing to limit the agency’s growing lawlessness.” Murphy said in X’s post Wednesday.
At least one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, called for policy changes, saying the Minnesota shootings were “devastating and must not happen again.”
“The video I saw yesterday in Minneapolis is deeply disturbing,” she said in a statement. “As we mourn this loss of life, we need a thorough, objective investigation into how and why this happened.”
Some Democrats in the House also say DHS funding legislation should be used as leverage. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives has shrunk.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested at a news conference Friday that Democrats should take a more aggressive stance.
“I believe that maybe we can reform ICE. Now I believe it has to be dismantled as an entity,” he said. “This unexplained violence is part of its culture. So we have to dismantle it and rebuild it from the ground up.”
But the longest-ever government shutdown last fall dealt a heavy blow to the economy and social services, and top Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they wanted to avoid another shutdown in a few months.
Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged Friday that he is concerned that Democratic targets for immigration enforcement funding could interfere with overall government funding negotiations.
“We should not be limiting funding for the Department of Homeland Security at a time of danger,” Johnson said. According to Politico. “We need officials to allow law enforcement to do their job. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is an extremely important function of government. It is the top concern of Americans, as the last election cycle demonstrated.”