Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on new restrictions for federal immigration agents that Democrats have demanded in exchange for funding the Department of Homeland Security.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) laid out their demands late Wednesday in a letter to Republicans, including barring immigration agents from wearing face masks and entering private property without a warrant from a judge.
Republicans immediately criticized Democrats’ proposals as excessive. Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Alabama), who is representing Senate Republicans in negotiations with Democrats, described it as “a ridiculous Christmas list of demands.”
Democrats have threatened to block funding for DHS when it expires at the end of the day Feb. 13, giving the two sides barely a week to strike a deal and avert a shutdown of the department. The brunt of a shutdown would fall on agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency because Republicans last year sent DHS tens of billions of dollars in extra border security and immigration enforcement funding.
Schumer called on President Donald Trump — who said Wednesday that the administration could “use a little bit of a softer touch” after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — to press Republicans to strike a deal.
“President Trump knows things have to change,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “He should lean on Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats and deliver.”
Some Republicans dismissed most of the Democrats’ demands as nonstarters, but others said they saw room to compromise on some of them if Democrats are willing to negotiate.
“There’s some room in there to negotiate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told reporters Thursday. “I think there’s some things that could get done. But you have to have people at the table to do that, and as of right now there’s only one side of the table that’s filled.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Thune, telling reporters Thursday that the administration was willing to discuss some of the Democrats’ demands. “Others don’t seem like they are grounded in any common sense, and they are nonstarters for this administration,” she said.
Republicans also have their own demands, such as taking steps to prevent harassment of federal immigration agents and force local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Schumer has criticized the latter ask as “unserious.”
Some Democrats have said they are willing to negotiate, but others have said they would oppose any funding bill that does not include all of their demands.
“For me, these demands are red lines — nonnegotiable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) said of his party’s proposals. “And the reason is quite simply that the risk here is so great that we will lose … critical freedoms and protections from government overreach.”
Here’s what Democrats are demanding:
Tighter rules on warrants
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has advised agents that they can enter homes to make arrests without a warrant from a judge, outraging Democrats, who say such arrests are unconstitutional. Democrats are seeking to bar federal immigration agents from entering private property without a judicial warrant. They also want agents to verify that people are not U.S. citizens before detaining them.
Polling shows the idea is popular. Sixty-nine percent of Americans support requiring agents to obtain judicial warrants to enter homes, with 19 percent opposed, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted after federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti last month in Minneapolis. A Pew Research Center poll conducted late last month found that 61 percent of Americans said it was unacceptable for officers to wear face coverings that hide their identities while working, while 38 percent said it was acceptable.
But some Republicans have balked, arguing that the proposal would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. The agents can rely instead on administrative warrants, they argue, which are typically signed by immigration officers.
“We are never going to go along with adding an entirely new layer of judicial warrants, because it is unimplementable,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told reporters Tuesday. “It cannot be done, and it should not be done, and it’s not necessary.”
Bar agents from wearing masks and military-style uniforms
Democrats also want to bar federal immigration agents from wearing face masks. The idea is more controversial than requiring judicial warrants to enter homes but is broadly popular, with 55 percent of Americans in favor and 33 percent opposed, according to the Economist/YouGov poll.
Republicans are largely against it, arguing that agents need to wear masks to prevent activists from doxing them or revealing their identities to invite online harassment.
“Until there’s some understanding that local governments can work with federal law enforcement officials in a way that doesn’t allow them to be doxed, I think it’s going to be really hard to get anything like that,” Thune told reporters.
Democrats also want DHS to ensure agents do not wear paramilitary-style gear by standardizing their uniforms and equipment “to bring them in line with civil enforcement,” according to the letter.
Require agents to wear identification and body cameras
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem announced Monday that agents would start wearing body cameras immediately in Minnesota, with plans to do the same across the country. But Democrats want legislation requiring agents to wear cameras, along with identification that includes their agency, ID number and last name.
The idea is overwhelmingly popular, with 84 percent of Americans in favor of requiring federal immigration agents to wear body cameras and 8 percent opposed, according to the Economist/YouGov poll.
Republicans point out that the DHS funding bill that passed the House last month included $20 million for body cameras. Senate Democrats decided to oppose the bill after Pretti’s killing as they pushed for broader changes to the agency.
Restrict where and how agents can operate
Democrats want to bar agents from operating near medical facilities, schools, child care facilities, churches, polling places and courts, among other places. They also want to stop agents from “conducting stops, questioning and searches based on an individual’s presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity,” according to the letter.
Coordinate on investigations
Democrats are seeking provisions to make sure states and local jurisdictions can investigate and prosecute potential crimes committed by agents and excessive use of force. They also want to mandate that states and localities consent to “large-scale operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement.”
The demand comes after Vice President JD Vance initially said that the agent who shot and killed Renée Good last month in Minneapolis was “protected by absolute immunity.” Vance later said agents who violate the law would face discipline.
New rules on using force and detention
Democrats are pushing to force DHS to adopt “a reasonable use of force policy, expand training and require certification” of its agents.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), who is opposed to most of the Democrats’ demands, said he supported improving training. (The bipartisan bill that the House passed last month directed DHS to develop de-escalation training for ICE agents.)
“That’s probably an area of agreement,” Schmitt said. “The other proposals that Democrats have, they’re meant to prevent ICE from doing their jobs.”
Democrats also want agents involved in incidents to be removed from the field while they are under investigation, as well as new rules for buildings where people are detained that would allow them immediate access to lawyers.
Fire Noem and remove agents from Minnesota
Democrats did not demand that Trump fire Noem — who has come under criticism from Democrats as well as Republicans — and end the surge of agents in Minnesota. But they wrote that both moves would “show good faith.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (Connecticut), the top Democrat on the Senate homeland security appropriations subcommittee, said getting rid of Noem is not as high a priority as Democrats’ main demands.
“I worry that changing the name on the door doesn’t necessarily solve the problem,” Murphy told reporters.
Riley Beggin and Arelis R. Hernández contributed to this report.
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