The White House is engaging in direct conversations with congressional Democrats to find an agreement on Homeland Security funding just days before the department is scheduled to run out of federal funding.
Talks have been solely focused on immigration policy, which has become a flashpoint in recent weeks after two U.S. citizens were killed by immigration officers in separate incidents in Minneapolis last month. Since then, Democrats have demanded major reforms in exchange for full funding to DHS — putting dozens of other agencies at risk if a deal isn’t made before midnight on Friday.
“Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward, period, full stop,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters on Monday. “House and Senate Democrats have clearly transmitted to the American people and clearly transmitted to the White House and our colleagues in the House and the Senate, the types of dramatic changes that need to occur at the Department of Homeland Security before a funding bill moves forward this Friday.”
Democratic leaders sent a formal proposal to the White House over the weekend detailing their main demands for immigration policy. The Trump administration responded with a counterproposal late Monday afternoon, a White House official told the Deseret News, which party leaders on both sides of the aisle said they would review.
“We have to look at the counterproposal to see how serious it is,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said on Monday evening. “The more serious it is, the more we want to work to see if we can land something.“
What ICE reforms did Democrats demand?
In their legislative proposal, Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., outlined 10 main demands they want to see included in the final spending bill.
These include, among other things, mandatory body cameras, no masks, judicial warrants to carry out arrests, ensuring the right to sue, requiring identification for officers, prohibiting racial profiling as a justification to conduct enforcement, and prohibiting ICE agents from detaining or deporting U.S. citizens.
“We Democrats have put together a common sense group of proposals based on what police officers have done in every part of the country, whether it be a local police department, sheriff’s department, or even previous federal police department,” Schumer told reporters last week before officially sending the proposal to the White House.
Some of those demands are likely to get more bipartisan support than others. For example, the original DHS funding bill included funding for body cameras that must be used by immigration officers — although that spending deal has since been blocked by Democrats after the fatal shootings last month.
Other Republicans have expressed a willingness to negotiate other demands, such as a standardized use-of-force policy and expanded training for officers.
Republicans open to compromise — but say some demands are nonstarters
While there is room for compromise in the final funding bill, there are some demands that Republicans have ruled out as nonstarters.
Among those are Democrats’ push to require identification of officers and to ban them from wearing masks while carrying out operations.
“That’s a nonstarter. And a massive nonstarter too,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said last week, arguing those standards now protect officers from doxing. “The mask is for their safety as much as it is for the weather itself.”
Republicans have also rejected Democratic demands to require warrants for arrests, arguing those obstacles could be used to impede their immigration operations.
Meanwhile, some GOP lawmakers are offering their own demands, too. Chief among them is language cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities that don’t comply with federal immigration officers. Other Republicans have suggested different measures to increase penalties for immigrants who come into the country illegally.
The details of the White House counterproposal have not yet been made public, but Democratic leaders made clear in a statement released Monday night that it was insufficient to their demands.
“Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text,” Jeffries and Schumer wrote in a joint statement. “The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct. Democrats await additional detail and text.”
Republicans consider temporary extension to buy time for negotiations
Republican leaders are considering a temporary extension to buy time for immigration negotiations, citing concerns for other agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency that rely on DHS funding.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said a temporary extension, known as a continuing resolution, may be necessary ahead of the Friday deadline — but noted it would require Democratic support to avoid a department shutdown.
Thune confirmed on Monday evening he would start the process of a stopgap spending bill on Tuesday, although it’s not clear how long the extension would be.
“Hopefully the Democrats will be amenable to that,” Thune said. “But I think probably part of that depends on how well the negotiations are going and whether it looks like there’s going to be a pathway to success.”
Thune said he hopes to get a temporary extension through the Senate before Friday, noting several senators have congressional trips planned next week in foreign countries. Any spending deal that gets through the Senate will need House approval before it can be transmitted to the White House.
The House is scheduled to leave by Thursday afternoon, although that could change.