Democrats aren’t budging on DHS demands amid shutdown

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is shut down, and with Congress in recess until next Monday, it’s likely to be at least a week until lawmakers pass a bill to fund the agency.

While the Trump administration’s controversial immigration enforcement efforts will continue because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has its own separate funding under this past summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the DHS’s independent watchdog warns that the funding lapse could affect ongoing investigations.

The inspector general said the department is currently conducting eight investigations. They include reviews of the use of facial recognition and allegations of ICE agents using excessive force, according to Politico.

Experts said it’ll likely take a couple of weeks before American citizens begin to feel the effects of the DHS shutdown, such as air travel delays.

Democrats refuse to budge

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats remain staunch on their demand for sweeping reforms within ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the wake of the deadly immigration officer-involved shootings of two American citizens in Minneapolis before they sign off on funding for DHS.

One of the key sticking points is agents’ ability to mask their identities when conducting operations, a sticking point Border Czar Tom Homan says he doesn’t fully agree with either.

“Look, you know, I don’t like the masks either, but because threats against ICE officers, you know, are up over 1,500%, actual assaults, and threats are up over 8,000%, these men and women have to protect themselves,” Homan said in an interview Sunday. “As far as identifying themselves, they all have placards identifying themselves as ICE, ERO, HSI, DEA, FBI. So, they all have placards on them. So, I will let the white house and members of congress, you know, fight that out.”

Other demands include wearing body cameras, waiting for judicial warrants before entering private property and stopping racial profiling, which Homan asserts is already not happening.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview on the same program that Democrats are not budging on their demands.

“We’re willing to have a good faith conversation about everything, but, fundamentally, we need change that is dramatic, that is bold, that is meaningful and that is transformational,” Jeffries said. “And these are commonsense things.”

Crackdown in Minnesota ends

Homan also said more than a thousand immigration agents have left Minnesota since he announced the end of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis last week. More are expected to follow this week.

Homan said there will still be a “small force” that will remain “for a short period of time” to “respond to when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control.”

The White House said the operation has led to the arrests of 4,000 “criminal illegal aliens” since it began in December.

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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief

Ella Greene

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