DHS funding dispute: Democrats hold firm as another government shutdown looms

WASHINGTON (TNND) — The potential for a third government shutdown under President Donald Trump is growing as Senate Democrats refuse to back a funding bill if it includes money for Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Democrats want major immigration enforcement reforms in response to the second deadly shooting in a month by federal agents in Minneapolis. Republicans, who hold the Senate majority, want to keep funds for DHS bundled with the rest of the spending package.

Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said Monday that “Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”

The Senate will consider the Homeland Security bill with five other bills that would fund several departments, including Defense, State, Treasury and others. Schumer said he would vote against the package since the bill is “woefully inadequate” to address issues with ICE.

“What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling—and unacceptable in any American city,” he wrote.

A federal agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 during an immigration raid, and ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed during a protest on Saturday.

Both times, the Trump administration defended agents as firing in “self-defense.”

Greg Bovino, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Minneapolis team, claimed Pretti was violently resisting agents’ attempts to disarm him of a gun.

Pretti’s family released a statement after the shooting condemning the “sickening lies told about our son by the administration,” calling them “reprehensible and disgusting.”

An independent autopsy showed Good was shot three times, including fatally in the head, as she drove away from ICE agents.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Saturday that Homeland Security and President Donald Trump are “completely and totally out of control.”

“Taxpayer dollars are being misused by DHS to brutalize American citizens and law-abiding immigrants with impunity,” Jeffries said in a statement. “The American people reject this affront to our values.”

President Donald Trump has largely defended the actions by immigration agents, but seemed to shift gears on Monday when CNN reported that he was disappointed with how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem handled Pretti’s killing with the media.

Trump said he spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday, with “lots of progress being made.”

Frey said that he appreciated the conversation with the president, but “expressed how much Minneapolis has benefited from our immigrant communities and was clear that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end.”

Border czar Tom Homan was sent to Minnesota on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with Frey to continue the conversation.