Senate Democrats reject GOP offer to reopen Homeland Security, partially fund ICE

Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected a new proposal from Senate Republicans endorsed by President Trump to fund almost all of the Department of Homeland Security but set aside some funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to end the partial government shutdown that has now stretched to 39 days.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday that Democrats would submit a counteroffer to Republicans and declared that his party will still insist on reforms to “rein in” ICE — demands that Republicans have repeatedly rebuffed.

“We have to rein in ICE and stop the violence. We need reform,” Schumer said at a press conference after meeting with his Democratic colleagues at lunch Tuesday. “Every one of my colleagues, every one, A, believes we should be unified, and, B, we need reforms of ICE — every single one.”

Schumer noted that Democrats have called for reforms including requirements that federal immigration officers obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes and they be prohibited from wearing masks.

“You know what we’ve called for along. I’m not going to get into specifics but we need strong, strong reforms and we need to rein in ICE. We’ve been consistent in what we’ve been asking for from the get-go,” he added.

He said the latest Republican proposal “does not have any reforms in ICE” though he said negotiations are ongoing.

“They sent us an offer, and we’ll be sending them an offer back and I can assure you it will contain significant reform in it,” he said.

Senate Republicans submitted text to Democrats on Tuesday morning to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), but set aside funding for ICE’s emergency removal operations — which accounts for more than half of ICE’s budget.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who has been at the center of the talks, said she has had “productive meetings with the White House.”

But she said the talks have been made more difficult by Trump “making new and unreasonable demands over social media,” referring to Trump’s demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act before he agrees to a Homeland Security funding deal.

“We’ve been very clear that if we’re talking about funding any part of ICE and CBP, we absolutely must take some key steps to rein them in. The current Republican offer in front of us does not do that,” she said.

“Reforms must make it into law,” she said.

Democrats noted that Senate Republicans have blocked eight different attempts to fund TSA separately from ICE and Customs and Border Protection in recent weeks to ease growing congestion at airports.

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