A government shutdown is likely at the end of the week amid a looming showdown in Congress over Department of Homeland Security funding following the fatal ICE shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the third ICE shooting in less than a month.
Senate Democrats are uniting against an upcoming federal spending bill that would give DHS nearly $65 billion, including $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The lawmakers are demanding that the federal law enforcement agencies be reined in amid what appears to be unchecked power enabled by the Trump administration.
“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city. Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia reiterated Democrats’ stance against funding DHS and ICE on MS Now’s “Morning Joe,” calling it a major moment where Americans must “say no” to President Donald Trump, whom he rebuked for “unleashing evil onto our streets.”
Similarly, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey wrote, “I will not vote for another dollar for this out-of-control Department of Homeland Security and ICE.”
“These are not isolated incidents. For nearly a year, in states across the country, DHS has detained citizens & veterans, and continually violated the due process rights entitled to everyone. This organization is out of control,” said Booker.
If appropriation bills are not passed by the end of the day on Friday, the government will see its second shutdown in less than a year. At least seven Democrats would need to vote for the current bill in the U.S. Senate to avoid a shutdown. Democrats are instead asking that Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, pass a funding bill without DHS funding; however, doing so would require the U.S. House of Representatives to return to Washington, D.C., to finalize the changes (the House is currently on recess until Feb. 2).
Senator Warnock said Democrats are committed to ensuring that “we don’t enable this kind of overreach by the government.”
The calls for Democrats to use their limited political leverage to thwart the Trump administration’s immigration and law enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis and several other cities across the country are growing louder, including more liberal voices who are demanding that ICE be abolished.
“State-sanctioned lynching and murder is happening under this administration. We need governors, mayors, every elected official to step up and do what’s necessary to shut ICE down,” said former U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman in a fiery video posted to social media. “Abolish them, defund them, whatever the f–k needs to be done, they’ve got to go.”
The New Yorker urged his former Democratic colleagues to use “any means necessary,” adding, “The people gotta keep rising up. We are all Minnesota.”
During President Trump’s second term, ICE has seen an unprecedented increase in its budget as a result of the Republican-passed “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” which allocates $75 billion over four years, or approximately $18.7 billion each year, to ICE. The 400% increase now makes ICE the most funded federal agency in U.S. history.
“They made ICE larger than all of the federal law enforcement agencies, to include the FBI, ATF, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the US Marshals and the Bureau of Prisons combined,” said Senator Warnock. “When you build a beast that large, it’s got to eat. And we’re witnessing it eat and consume the bodies of ordinary citizens. It is out of control.”
The lawmaker and pastor added, “It is way too big, and we’re going to see more of this on American streets if we don’t rein this in.”
