Senate Dems demand immigration enforcement reforms before funding DHS
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast for Tuesday, January 27th. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House.
I'm Sam Greenglass. I cover Congress. And I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent.
And we are recording this at 1.10 p.m. Eastern Time. And today on the show, Congress may be headed toward a partial government shutdown. Last week, it seemed like lawmakers were on track to approve a package of bipartisan spending bills ahead of a government funding deadline at the end of the month. But that all changed after federal immigration officers failed. killed 37-year-old Alex Preddy on Saturday. Senate Democrats now say they will not vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without major changes to the bill. And that puts all of the other remaining funding measures in peril, too. So, Sam, what are Democrats asking for?
Yeah, so Democrats think there is an opportunity here to use the funding bill to rein in federal immigration tactics. They're asking for reforms like mandating warrants for immigration arrests, prohibiting immigration officers from concealing their identity, requiring officers to use body cameras and to stop raids at churches, hospitals, and schools. There have been a bunch of ideas floated around, and those are just a handful of them.
Yeah, I mean, look, Democrats, which seems to be constant here, are under pressure to do something, especially with these videos of harsh immigration tactics by federal agents and these two lethal shootings in Minneapolis. You know, there's been a lot of political pressure where Democrats are sometimes unfairly labeled as anemic or not able to do very much when, you know, frankly, life in the minority is just really hard.
What events led Senate Democrats to demand immigration reforms?
And this is a leverage point. A government funding bill is a leverage point. Sam, ICE and other immigration enforcement got a huge amount of money last summer in the one big beautiful bill act, President Trump's big signature accomplishment. So how does this fit with that? Like withholding funding from Homeland Security, would immigration enforcement really be affected by this fight?
Yeah, so that legislation gave ICE an additional $75 billion to use over four years. So even if there is a short-term shutdown here, it is not going to immediately stop this immigration crackdown. Democrats are saying they don't want to give the agency another $10 billion in base funding that's at stake here in this funding bill. But really, this is a question not so much about the funding, but more about a chance to to extract some policy concessions that they could see as helping rein in the tactics being used by ICE and Customs and Border Protection right now in Minneapolis and in other cities.
I guess a question I have here is, why not just separate out the Homeland Security funding and then pass everything else? And then it wouldn't be such a major disruption.
Yeah, so that is actually exactly what Democrats want to do because otherwise, as you're alluding to there, a vote against Homeland Security funding would also mean a vote against funding for defense, for health, for transportation, and a whole bunch of other government agencies that would otherwise grind to a halt after Friday night if this funding runs out. You know, in the House, Homeland Security was actually voted on separately from everything else. And that allowed all but seven Democrats to vote no without really sweating that vote so much. But in part to expedite things, the House sent a bunch of funding bills over to the Senate as one mega package. And that was actually not really expected to be a problem in the Senate.
And then the shooting on Saturday really upended everything. So far, Republican leadership have said they're not willing to pull these bills apart. And even if they did, it would require bringing the House back to sign off on all of it again. And the House is in recess until next week. And that's after this funding is expected to lapse.
And we know that there's a lot of the government will still be operating.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–1:49
2
What events led Senate Democrats to demand immigration reforms?
1:49–5:25
3
What specific reforms are Senate Democrats asking for regarding immigration enforcement?
5:25–8:33
4
How do recent shootings impact the funding negotiations for DHS?
8:33–15:50
5
What are the political risks of a government shutdown for Democrats?
15:50–16:32