Lawmakers and the White House showed no signs of compromise on Sunday over oversight of federal immigration officials, a fight that has led to the suspension of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The partial government shutdown began on Saturday as congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s team failed to reach an agreement on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes in how immigration operations are conducted after federal officers shot and killed U.S. citizens Alex Pretty and Renee Goode in Minneapolis last month.
Congress is in recess until February 23, with both sides appearing to have their own agenda. The impasse affects agencies including the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Work for ICE and CBP continues unabated as Trump’s tax cuts and spending cuts law starting in 2025 provide the agencies with billions of dollars to spend on deportation operations. About 90% of DHS employees continue to work without pay during the government shutdown, and missing pay could mean financial hardship. Last year, the government shutdown lasted a record 43 days.
White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration is unwilling to agree to Democratic demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove their masks during operations and display unique identification numbers.
“I don’t like masks either,” Homan said, but, he said, “these men and women have to protect themselves.”
Democrats also want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras and authorize warrants for arrests on private property.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats are simply asking federal agents to follow the same rules followed by law enforcement agencies across the country.
“The question Americans are asking is, ‘Why don’t Republicans agree with these common-sense recommendations?'” Schumer said. “They’re not crazy. They’re not the way out. That’s what every police department in America does.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could support Democratic calls to equip immigration officers with body cameras and would support efforts to increase training. But he rejected their demands that federal officers remove their masks and clearly identify themselves, noting that some officers involved in immigration enforcement operations face doxxing and other harassment.
“What are you going to do, expose their faces so you can terrorize their families?” Mullins said. “We want ICE to do its job. We want local law enforcement and states to work with us.”
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., a Trump ally who has pushed for a two-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continue, said it would be “short-sighted” for “Democrats to walk away” from the negotiations.
Trump has made enforcing the nation’s immigration laws a centerpiece of his 2024 White House campaign, pledging to aggressively detain and deport people living in the United States without legal permission.
The Department of Homeland Security reports that it has deported more than 675,000 immigrants since Trump returned to office last year and claims that about 2.2 million more people have “self-deported” as the Republican president makes cracking down on immigration a priority.
“President Trump will not abandon the mission that the American people want him to accomplish, which is to secure our borders and make sure we actually enforce the law from within,” Britt said.
Homan appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Schumer and Mullin appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Britt was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.”
