Senate Democrats send DHS counteroffer to Trump as shutdown drags on

Democrats in Congress sent a new counterproposal to the White House to reopen the Department of Homeland Security; This is a step that may indicate that the ice is thawing in the closure process of the agency, which started on February 14.

The shutdown comes as Democrats demand changes to how federal immigration enforcement operates in exchange for the release of funding following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens by DHS officers in Minneapolis. Democrats and President Donald Trump’s White House have been exchanging proposals for more than a month but have yet to reach an agreement.

The Democrats’ latest counteroffer was sent late last night, said a person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations. The person involved declined to detail what happened in the Democrats’ latest volley.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, told CNBC that the White House had received the counteroffer and was reviewing it. The official also did not offer any specifics included in the Democrats’ latest proposal.

Later Tuesday, the White House detailed what it had presented in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Katie Britt, R-Ala. The letter was obtained by MS Now.

The letter, written by Border Czar Tom Homan and Office of Legislative Affairs Director James Braid, said the administration “proposes to issue enhanced operational guidelines for immigration enforcement operations.”

The administration’s concessions include greater adoption and enforcement of body camera use, limiting surveillance in hospitals and schools, increasing officers’ requirement for visible identification, increasing surveillance requirements for DHS detention facilities, and enacting a mandate that U.S. citizens not knowingly be detained unless they commit a crime.

However, some of the concessions consist of claims that the administration will adhere to the laws already in law.

The letter from the White House is the first indication of what the Trump administration is willing to agree to in months of talks. Democrats did not elaborate on how they backtracked on their latest counterproposal.

Democrats on Tuesday said the administration’s concessions were still inadequate.

“They need to get serious,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-Y. “The basic issues of search warrants when you raid someone’s home, the basic issue of police identification, no masks, they haven’t compromised on those, they need to get serious.”

The DHS shutdown was less disruptive than last year’s record-long, sweeping government shutdown. Much of DHS is considered essential, meaning employees continue to work without pay.

But the effects of the funding cut are being seen at airports, where Transportation Security Administration officials have resigned or been called away rather than work without pay. They and other DHS workers missed their first paychecks last week. The lack of agents has led to massive backlogs at security checkpoints.