Senate Democrats are demanding that federal agents be barred from donning masks and that they wear body cameras as part of sweeping changes to DHS that also include a ban on roving patrols and tighter use of warrants.
Why it matters: Democrats are pledging to tank a broader funding package aimed at staving off a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday if Republicans don't agree to new constraints on ICE and other federal law enforcement.
- "Senate Democrats are united behind a set of commonsense policy goals," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday after a private caucus meeting, adding, "We want masks off, body cameras on."
- Schumer called on Republicans to either change the DHS spending bill to incorporate the Democrats' demands or strip it from the larger funding package.
- The Senate is scheduled to take a procedural vote on the funding package on Thursday, and Republicans need at least six Democratic votes to pass it before the deadline.
The big picture: Democrats, from moderates to progressives, seem dug in on forcing changes at ICE.
- Republicans this week have floated the idea of securing some of the changes Democrats want via executive action and not changing the funding bills.
- To Democrats, given their lack of trust in the White House, that approach is a non-starter.
- "Until ICE is properly reined in and overhauled, the DHS funding bill won't have the votes to pass the Senate," Schumer said on X on Wednesday.
The other side: Whether the demands are palatable to Senate Republicans and — perhaps more importantly the White House — remains to be seen.
- "If the ICE agents and the Border Patrol agents weren't being doxxed and weren't being harassed and didn't have their families under attack, they'd be happy not to wear masks," Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said regarding Democrats' mask ban.
Between the lines: Democrats shared few details about their proposals to end roving patrols and a "tighten" warrant use when immigration officers make arrests.
- "We're working through the details," Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Cal.) said.
- How Democrats choose to narrow these reforms could be cosmetic changes to the arrest process or could dramatically decrease arrest numbers for ICE and its fellow federal agents working on enforcement.
