Representative Tom Suozzi of New York, one of seven Democrats who broke from their party last week to provide the votes to pass a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department, told his constituents on Monday that he had “failed” in doing so.
In an email sent by his re-election campaign, Mr. Suozzi, who represents a politically competitive district on Long Island, suggested that he was hearing outrage from his community about the vote and had come to regret it. He said that he fell short by not taking into account the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
“I failed to view the D.H.S. funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” Mr. Suozzi wrote. “I hear the anger from many of my constituents, and I take responsibility for that.”
Mr. Suozzi’s statement came two days after a federal agent shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, 37, an intensive care nurse, in Minneapolis. It was the second fatal shooting of a United States citizen there this month, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Good, 37.
After Ms. Good’s death, many Democrats in Congress refused to advance legislation that provided funding for ICE, saying no money should go to the agency without imposing severe restrictions on its tactics. But Mr. Suozzi and six other Democrats crossed party lines to pass it, in a 220 to 207 vote.
Their backing was vital because given Republicans’ tiny margin of control, they would otherwise have lacked the votes to approve the funding bill. And while a solid contingent of Senate Democrats had been expected to follow suit and allow the measure to clear Congress this week as part of a larger spending package, they reversed course after Mr. Pretti’s shooting and are now vowing not to do so, even if it means shutting down the government.
Though Mr. Suozzi went the furthest to distance himself from his vote, other Democrats who voted for the spending bill tried to downplay funding ICE and focus attention elsewhere. In a video on social media, Representative Vicente Gonzalez of Texas said that he voted for the spending bill “not to fund ICE,” but to secure funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and other agencies covered by the measure.
“While we hold ICE and every other federal agency accountable, let’s do it thoughtfully, smartly,” Mr. Gonzalez said.
Representative Laura Gillen of New York, who also represents a swing district on Long Island, did not address her vote on Sunday but called for the impeachment of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, joining dozens of Democrats who have demanded her removal.
But in a statement on Monday, Ms. Gillen, one of the most politically vulnerable House Democrats, said that her vote on the spending bill was necessary to “fund essential disaster-relief and local and national security efforts,” and argued that the bill imposed “important guardrails for ICE, including body cameras and increased de-escalation training.”
Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington on Sunday called the shooting “un-American” and called on Ms. Noem to step down, but she did not mention her backing for funding the department.
The other Democrats who joined Republicans to pass the spending bill were Representatives Henry Cuellar of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine and Don Davis of North Carolina, whose offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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