By Mary Alice Miller
It was almost like deja vu all over again. The threat of yet another government shutdown loomed over the country, stopped by last minute negotiations. Last time, it was over ObamaCare subsidies. This time, it was the extrajudicial murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota by ICE personnel.
Those murders sparked widespread protests that were heard in Congress.

While most agencies were funded for a full year at the end of the government shutdown in November, legislators had until January 30 to fund the remaining agencies via six appropriations bills to avert a partial government shutdown.
The DHS bill included an additional $10 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on top of the already $76 billion over the next four years under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he and other Democrats would not support the funding package unless a bill that funded the Department of Homeland Security was removed.
“I will vote no on any legislation that funds ICE until it is reined in and overhauled, and Senate Democrats are overwhelmingly united on this issue,” said Schumer. “These are not radical demands. They’re basic standards the American people already expect from law enforcement.”

Senate Democrats refused to vote to fund DHS unless changes were considered, including unmasking ICE agents, judicial warrant requirements, and allowing local authorities to help investigate any incidents.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune tried to resist the changes, but Trump struck a deal with the Senate after seven Republicans joined all Democrats in the vote last Thursday, Thune agreed to split the DHS bill from the rest of the package.

In a deal reached last Thursday, the DHS bill was separately considered under a continuing resolution as a stopgap funding bill that would fund the agency at current levels for two weeks until February 13. The other five bills were considered together, passed, and sent back to the House.
“What’s clear to me is that there needs to be dramatic change at the Department of Homeland Security,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in an interview on PBS NewsHour.

“Fundamentally, we believe that ICE should conduct itself like every other law enforcement agency in the country,” Jeffries said. “Police officers don’t wear masks. Sheriffs don’t wear masks. State troopers don’t wear masks. There’s no justification for the manner in which ICE is conducting itself in terms of masks. They should be required to have body cameras. They should be required to obtain judicial warrants before they can rip everyday Americans out of their homes or out of their cars.”
Schumer and Jeffries held a joint news conference on Wednesday.

“Democrats have common sense, tough objectives to reign in ICE. There are three broad categories we all agree on,” said Schumer.
“One, none of these roving patrols. You can’t just stop anybody on the street. You can’t just pick them up and not even tell them why they are picked up, put them in some dark place, no access to a lawyer or a phone. There are certain places they shouldn’t be able to go in: Churches, synagogues, schools, election places. There should be no racial profiling as these bands of goons roam the streets.

“Two, we need real accountability. There has got to be oversight, outside independent oversight by state and local governments by individuals. There has got to be a right to sue, a right to go to court, and stop this.
“And finally, no secret police. This group that needs to be identified more than any other group should have a standard much more lenient and hidden than other police forces? We need cameras and specific as to how they ought to be used. They need identification, and no masks except in extraordinary and unusual circumstances.”