Shutdown nears as lawmakers brace for next round of ICE negotiations
WASHINGTON— A budget impasse in Congress is poised to shut down a broad swath of federal operations early Saturday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill turn to the next flashpoint in negotiations to reopen the government: whether to impose new restrictions on federal immigration officials who are waging President Trump’s deportation campaign.
Over the next two weeks, Democrats and Republicans will weigh competing demands over how the Department of Homeland Security should handle arrests, detentions and deportations following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers in Minnesota this month.
Seeking to rein in the federal agency, Senate Democrats managed to strike a deal with the White House late Thursday that would temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security but would also fund the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as health, education, labor and transportation agencies through Sept. 30.
The deal is intended to give lawmakers more time to meet Democratic demands to curb ICE tactics while preventing a partial government shutdown.
The Senate was expected to finalize the deal Friday evening, hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown. The deal’s passage was delayed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who objected to parts of the package.
The parliament is expected to consider the bill as early as Monday. The partial government shutdown will occur until the measure is approved by the House and Trump signs it into law.
The president supports the agreement, which comes after Senate Democrats said they would not vote for Homeland Security funding unless reforms to the agency were approved. The demands include banning federal agents from wearing masks, requiring the use of body cameras and requiring the use of judicial warrants before conducting home searches and arrests.
Democrats also demanded that local and state law enforcement officials be given the authority to conduct independent investigations in cases where federal agents are accused of misconduct.
However, the agreement does not include any of these reforms; It merely promises more time for negotiation and provides no guarantee that new restrictions will be accepted.
California’s Democratic senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both declined to comment on the Senate agreement ahead of Friday’s vote. Both opposed more funding for Homeland Security There were no reforms in Thursday’s vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DY) told reporters Friday morning that Democrats will find out if two weeks is enough to reach a compromise.
“We will evaluate whether this is sufficient time,” Jeffries said. “But we need to address this issue immediately because, as we see, ICE is out of control.”
Meanwhile, the failure to reform the Senate agreement has raised concerns from some progressives who argue that the agreement does not meet what is needed to rein in federal immigration enforcement.
“First of all, I’m disappointed that Senate leadership is not demanding more at this time,” Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the top House Democrat, told reporters Friday. “I think the idea that we’re somehow going to continue to fund this agency and somehow prolong the pain even further is absolutely wrong.”
Garcia said it was “outrageous” that the Senate agreement extended Homeland Security funding by two weeks without any new requirements.
“The idea that we are dismantling this institution that is doing harm while somehow not calling for the immediate elimination of masks and body cameras and all these other reforms, I think is outrageous,” Garcia said.
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of Pasadena said in a statement that she had not yet decided whether she would support the Senate agreement when it reaches the House agenda.
But Chu added: “I cannot support legislation that increases funding for this agency without providing any accountability measures.”
Rep. Kevin Calvert (R-Corona) said in a statement that it was “critical” for lawmakers to pass the bipartisan spending package, in part because of funding for the U.S. military.
“As Chairman of the Board of Directors [House] The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I am particularly concerned about the adverse effects of the shutdown at a time when American military presence is increasing in the Middle East,” Calvert said.
Calvert added that Homeland Security operations will continue even during the shutdown because lawmakers injected funds into the agency in last year’s “One Big Good Bill.” But he said he was concerned that any cuts in funding would affect the agency’s other operations, including disaster financing and security assistance for major events such as the upcoming World Cup.
“We need to fund these priorities,” he said.
Other Republican lawmakers have already signaled the potential hurdles Democrats will face in trying to rein in ICE.
Graham rejected the Senate deal in part because he wanted the Senate to vote to criminalize local and state authorities in sanctuary cities — a term that has no precise definition but generally describes local jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials.
“You can convince me that ICE can be better, but I don’t think I can convince you to abandon sanctuary cities, because you’re committed to that on the Democratic side,” Graham said.
Graham also delayed approval of the agreement because it included a repeal of a law that allowed senators, including himself, to sue the government if federal investigators accessed their phones without notifying them. The law required that senators be notified if such an event occurred and sued for damages of up to $50,000 per incident.
“We were going to lock in $500,000 – count me in – but you removed the notice,” Graham said. “I request a vote in the United States Senate.”
Other Senate Republicans also expressed concerns about Democrats’ demands, even as Trump appeared to try to appease them.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said the request that federal agents remove their masks during operations is “a clear and blatant attempt to intimidate and endanger our federal agents.”
“When enforcement becomes dangerous for enforcers, enforcement cannot survive,” Schmitt said in a speech to the Senate. “What emerges is not reform but presumed amnesty.”
Despite GOP opposition, most Senate Republicans were ready to join Democrats and vote for the deal on Friday. But there is no certainty that they will join the minority party when negotiations resume in the coming weeks.
Recent history shows that initial bipartisan support does not guarantee a lasting agreement, especially when unresolved policy disagreements remain. The latest government shutdown linked to a debate over health care has highlighted how quickly negotiations can collapse if no agreement is reached.
In November, a small group of Democrats voted with Republicans to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, promising to negotiate an extension of health tax credits that expire in the new year.
Former House speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Franciso) reminded the public Friday that Democrats failed to get Republican support to expand tax credits, resulting in increased healthcare costs for millions of Americans.
“House Democrats passed bipartisan relief, but Senate Republicans continue to block this critical relief for millions of Americans,” Pelosi wrote in a post on X.
Times writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
