Having often struggled to form an effective opposition to Donald Trump, Democrats this weekend found an issue on which they could unite – the US president’s threat to shut down the government over immigration crackdowns.
Senators are reluctant to risk another costly government shutdown, fearing a backlash if thousands of federal workers were furloughed and public services were ground to a halt just months after the last shutdown.
But the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretty in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents on Saturday has changed their calculations.
Democratic lawmakers now say they won’t support legislation that includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless federal immigration agents are reined in. That leaves Congress just a few days left to hammer out a deal before the government funding deadline on Friday, January 30.
Preeti’s death at the hands of Border Patrol officers was the second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month, two weeks after poet Renee Nicole Good was shot in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, said on Sunday, “I am not giving a dime to ICE or Border Patrol, considering how these agencies are operating. The Democrats will not fund it.”
“If Republicans insist that it be combined with other government funding the government will be shut down,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Earlier in the week, Washington state Democratic Senator Patty Murray said the shutdown would do nothing to “stop” ICE.
But after Preeti’s murder, Murray changed his stance.
“Federal agents can’t murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences. I will not support the DHS bill,” she posted on Twitter.
Any government funding bill needs the support of 60 senators to avert a shutdown. Republicans control the Senate, 53-47, meaning at least seven Democratic senators would need to sign on to the Republican-backed funding plan to keep the government open.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said late Saturday that his party has the votes to block any legislation providing more federal funding to ICE.
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will not vote to move forward on an appropriations bill if a DHS funding bill is included.”
On Sunday, Schumer called on Senate Republicans to draft legislation to keep the government open while crafting a separate bill to rewrite funding for DHS.
“Senate Republicans should work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill,” he said. “This is the best course of action, and the American people are on our side.”
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not immediately respond to Schumer’s request.
Senate Democrats were scheduled to hold a call Sunday evening to discuss their strategy for the funding fight. Lawmakers are not expected to return to Washington until at least Tuesday after a deadly storm battered the East Coast.
Republicans and federal officials have insisted that agents were acting in self-defense when they shot Preeti, despite video footage contradicting that position.
Protests have spread across the county, with some protesters calling for the dismantling of ICE, the agency that has been at the forefront of the crackdown.
Former Democratic President Barack Obama made a rare intervention in American politics on Sunday, calling the shooting of Alex Pretty a “wake-up call” for the country.
Former President and First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement, “For weeks now, people across the country have been outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruits and other federal agents operating with impunity and engaging in tactics designed to intimidate, harass, incite, and endanger the residents of a major American city.”
“These unprecedented tactics have now resulted in the fatal shootings of two American citizens. And yet rather than trying to impose some modicum of discipline and accountability on the agents they deployed, the President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation by offering public explanations for the firings of Mr. Pretty and Renee Good that are not informed by any serious investigation – and which appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence.”
The firing could equally be seen as a critical moment for Democrats, who have been accused of being ineffective in the face of the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics, while their voters have grown more fed up with the status quo.
There is evidence that Trump is also under pressure on this issue. A New York Times Ciena poll this week found that only 36 percent of voters approved of how ICE is doing its job, while 63 percent disapproved, including 70 percent of independent voters. Nearly one in five Republicans said ICE has “gone too far.”
The previous government shutdown – which lasted from October 1 to November 12 last year – was the longest in US history. It ended only when a handful of Democratic senators crossed the political aisle in a move that divided the party, with many lawmakers accusing their colleagues of capitulating to Trump and Republicans.
But Democrats were almost unanimous in expressing outrage over the events in Minneapolis on Saturday, as well as a desire to shut down the government over the issue.
Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, Brian Schatz – all Democrats who helped break the impasse last November – immediately said they would not vote in favor of a funding package that included money for DHS. Other moderates were sharply critical of the agency, though they stopped short of saying how they intended to vote.
Angus King, an independent senator from Maine who caucuses with Democrats and also broke the November impasse, told CBS News on Sunday: “I hate the shutdown. I’m one of the people who helped negotiate the solution to end the last shutdown. But I can’t vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances.” ICE has recently stepped up its deportation efforts in Maine.
Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat who led negotiations to end the previous shutdown, said federal officials were “out of control.”
“There’s a reason we need to be concerned about what the Department of Homeland Security is doing and how their federal agents are operating,” he told Fox News on Sunday. He did so without saying how he planned to vote.
With a budget of $85 billion, ICE has overtaken the FBI to become the most funded US law enforcement agency. Its funding got a boost in Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill legislation last year.
“We have a bill in front of us right now about funding them, giving them more money. I’m not voting for that,” Minnesota senator and gubernatorial candidate Amy Klobuchar said Sunday.
“Law enforcement is based on trust. And our trust has been completely broken.”
