Senate Democrats oppose funding after Minneapolis man shot by border patrol

Senate Democrats are ready to break a fragile ceasefire that would prevent a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday.

Democrats in Congress were already cautious about funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), given the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation shattered what little unity the bill had.

Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY), plan to vote against the legislation, which is included in a broader funding package along with five other spending bills.

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Schumer said Saturday that Democrats were trying to deliver “common-sense reforms” to the DHS funding bill but accused the DHS bill of being “woefully inadequate to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) abuses because Republicans have refused to stand up to President Trump.”

“I will vote no,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed with the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”

Schumer’s vote-calling deals a blow, especially to Senate Republicans who have been working with colleagues across the aisle to find compromise on the DHS bill. This also comes as the January 30 deadline for government funding is fast approaching. Complicating matters further is a nationwide arctic storm that forced the upper house to cancel Monday’s vote.

A senior Senate aide told Fox News that Digital Senate Democrats have been saying for weeks that they are not interested in shutting down the government again, and until Saturday praised the bipartisan nature of the government funding process.

“These bills were negotiated with Democrats; they agreed on what was in them,” the aide said.

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Demonstrators stand behind a barricade of trash cans as they gather near the site where state and local officials say a man was shot and killed by federal agents in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

The agency would be fully funded, with several restrictions and reporting requirements in the current proposal that would act as triggers to shut down certain cash flows if not met.

Considering that any changes to the package would need to pass the House, removing the bill from the six existing legislative funding packages would have a domino effect in Congress.

The lower room will be closed until February 2, making a partial closure much more likely.

Before the shooting, senators including Chris Murphy, D-Conn. A handful of Senate Democrats, including Tim Kaine and Tim Kaine, D-Va., had already announced their opposition to the legislation.

Last year, Kaine crossed the aisle to join a group of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

He wasn’t the only member of the group of eight to voice his dissent. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., spoke out Saturday against including the DHS bill in the broader package.

“My personal guiding principle has always been ‘Agree where you can and fight where you have to,'” Rosen said in a statement. “And I believe this is a time when we must fight back.”

House lawmakers took a week-long recess after passing the latest spending package in two parts on Thursday; one was an independent vote on DHS funding, and the other put together funding legislation for the departments of War, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A provision was included in the bill that would combine the bills into one large package for immediate consideration by the Senate before passing the House. It was then expected to be paired with other bills the Senate has not yet considered but which passed the House this month.

Changing it before the Jan. 30 shutdown means House lawmakers would have to return to Washington early to clear multiple procedural hurdles and hold a new vote on the legislation, something House GOP leaders have ruled out, at least for now.

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“We’ve turned over all 12 bills to the Senate, and they still have six bills that they need to forward to the president,” a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital on Saturday evening, meaning the lower chamber has completed its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. “We have no plans to come back next week.”

Even if House leaders change their plans, the looming snowstorm means lawmakers won’t be able to return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put final passage on Wednesday or Thursday, virtually guaranteeing that Congress won’t finish considering the bills until Friday.

House GOP leaders would also likely grapple with turnout issues if they ordered the return, with several lawmakers on planned trips and more than a dozen people campaigning heavily for higher office.

A partial government shutdown simply means that Congress must reduce or halt the functions of agencies it has not yet funded. In this case, payments to active-duty troops, air traffic controllers, and border patrol agents could all be affected.