A handful of House Democrats are readying to break with their party's leadership and vote for a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and, consequently, ICE.
Why it matters: The bill is already set to pass Thursday with Republican votes, but the likely bipartisan support threatens to undermine Democrats' push to constrain what they say are out of control ICE agents.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) announced to his members in a closed-door meeting Wednesday that he opposes the DHS funding bill, as Axios first reported.
- Jeffries told colleagues his opposition was at least partially due to Republicans rejecting his suggestions for ways to rein in ICE officers.
Yes, but: Two House Democrats, Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), have told Axios they are likely to vote for the package.
- "Probably, I'll be supporting that," Golden told Axios on Wednesday. "I am generally supportive of giving law enforcement the resources they need."
- Golden said issues around ICE officers using excessive force are "on a case-by-case basis" and have "nothing to do with the agency itself. ICE has a legitimate purpose."
- Several other swing-district members — Reps. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), Adam Gray (D-Calif.) and Don Davis (D-N.C.) — told Axios on Thursday morning that they remained undecided leading up to the vote later that afternoon.
What we're hearing: One House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Axios they expect "10 or fewer" of their colleagues to ultimately support the bill.
- The lawmaker said most Democrats feel compelled to oppose to the bill "because of Minnesota," referring to the shooting of Renee Good earlier this month.
What they're saying: Jeffries, at a press conference Thursday, said ICE is "out of control and operating, in far too many ways, in a lawless fashion, and the American people know it."
- Asked whether the defections undermine that argument, he told Axios, "You have to ask every individual member, who's going to vote the best interests of their districts, why they've chosen to vote one way or the other."
- "You're never going to see unanimity on every single issue if [a party] is functioning the right way," Jeffries added. "You get unanimity when you have a cult ... but we're not a cult as Democrats, we're a coalition."
