{"id":436097,"date":"2026-01-29T03:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T03:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/436097\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T03:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T03:45:12","slug":"partial-shutdown-seems-increasingly-likely-as-democrats-demand-ice-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/436097\/","title":{"rendered":"Partial shutdown seems increasingly likely as Democrats demand ICE changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 With a partial government shutdown looming, Senate Democrats laid out a list of demands Wednesday for the Department of Homeland Security, including an enforceable code of conduct for federal agents conducting immigration arrests and a requirement that officers show identification as the country reels<\/a> from the deaths of two protesters<\/a> at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n

It remained unclear if President Donald Trump and Republicans would be willing to meet those demands, even as funding for DHS and a swath of other government agencies was at risk of expiring Saturday. Irate Democrats have pledged to block a spending bill<\/a> unless their demands for reforms are met. <\/p>\n

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the legislation won\u2019t pass until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is \u201creined in and overhauled.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe American people support law enforcement, they support border security, they do not support ICE terrorizing our streets and killing American citizens,\u201d Schumer said. <\/p>\n

With an uncertain path ahead, the standoff threatened to plunge the country into another shutdown just two months after Democrats blocked a spending bill over expiring federal health care subsidies, a dispute that closed the government for 43 days as Republicans refused to negotiate. That shutdown ended when a small group of moderate Democrats broke away to strike a deal with Republicans, but Democrats are more united this time after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti<\/a> and Renee Good<\/a> by federal agents<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of \u201cunanimity and shared purpose\u201d within the Democratic caucus, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith said after a lunch meeting Wednesday. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Senate<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., walks through the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Allison Robbert)<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., walks through the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Allison Robbert)<\/p>\n

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\u201cBoil it all down, what we are talking about is that these lawless ICE agents should be following the same rules that your local police department does,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThere has to be accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats lay out their demands<\/p>\n

As the administration\u2019s aggressive immigration enforcement surge goes on, Schumer said Democrats are asking the White House to \u201cend roving patrols\u201d in cities and coordinate with local law enforcement on immigration arrests, including requiring tighter rules for warrants. <\/p>\n

Democrats also want an enforceable code of conduct so agents are held accountable when they violate rules. Schumer said agents should be required to have \u201cmasks off, body cameras on\u201d and carry proper identification, as is common practice in most law enforcement agencies. <\/p>\n

The Democratic caucus is united in those \u201ccommonsense reforms\u201d and the burden is on Republicans to accept them, Schumer said. He has asked Republicans to separate out the Homeland Security bill from the others to avoid a broader shutdown. <\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has said he was waiting for Democrats to outline what they want, and he suggested that they need to be negotiating with the White House. He indicated that he might be open to some of their demands, but encouraged Democrats and the White House to talk and find agreement. <\/p>\n

Many obstacles to a deal <\/p>\n

It was unclear whether Trump would weigh in, or how seriously the White House was engaged \u2014 or whether the two sides could agree on anything that would satisfy Democrats. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally outside of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally outside of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

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The White House had invited some Democrats for a discussion to better understand their positions and avoid a partial government shutdown, a senior White House official said, but the meeting did not happen. The official requested anonymity to discuss the private invitation. <\/p>\n

With no serious negotiations underway, a partial shutdown appeared increasingly likely starting Saturday.<\/p>\n

The House passed<\/a> the six remaining funding bills last week and sent them to the Senate as a package, and that makes it difficult to strip out the homeland security portion as Democrats are demanding. Republicans could break the package apart with the consent of all 100 senators, which would be complicated, or through a series of votes that would extend past the Friday deadline. <\/p>\n

Even if the Senate could resolve the issue, House Republicans have made clear they do not want any changes to the bill they have passed. In a letter to Trump on Tuesday, the conservative House Freedom Caucus wrote that its members stand with the president and ICE. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe package will not come back through the House without funding for the Department of Homeland Security,\u201d according to the letter. <\/p>\n

Republican opposition <\/p>\n

Several Republican senators have said they would be fine with Democrats\u2019 request to separate the Homeland Security funds for further debate and pass the other bills in the package. But it was unlikely that Democrats would find broad GOP support for their demands on ICE.<\/p>\n

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said he\u2019s OK with separating the bills, but opposed to the Democrats\u2019 proposal to require the immigration enforcement officers to unmask and show their faces, even as he blamed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for decisions that he said are \u201ctarnishing\u201d the agency\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about the masks, I really do disagree,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cYou know, there\u2019s a lot of vicious people out there, and they\u2019ll take a picture of your face, and the next thing you know, your children or your wife or your husband are being threatened at home. And that\u2019s just the reality of the world that we\u2019re in.\u201d <\/p>\n

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that \u201cwhat happened over the weekend is a tragedy,\u201d but Democrats shouldn\u2019t punish Americans with a shutdown and a \u201cpolitical stunt.\u201d <\/p>\n

Democrats say they won\u2019t back down. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is truly a moral moment,\u201d said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. \u201cI think we need to take a stand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 With a partial government shutdown looming, Senate Democrats laid out a list of demands Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[203372,23,1927,9286,1340,12,793,3138,9290,9292,790,21482,9283,4801,2077,6429,196794,6661,3,111,191965,7934,200479,9287,84187,8638,3770,9293,6148,795,3438,21,9291,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-436097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-alex-pretti","tag-america","tag-ap-top-news","tag-charles-schumer","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-government-and-politics","tag-government-budgets","tag-government-shutdown","tag-immigration","tag-john-cornyn","tag-john-thune","tag-kristi-noem","tag-legislation","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-ice-crackdown","tag-mn-state-wire","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-renee-good","tag-richard-blumenthal","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-thom-tillis","tag-tina-smith","tag-u-s-democratic-party","tag-u-s-department-of-homeland-security","tag-u-s-government-shutdown","tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-u-s-news","tag-u-s-republican-party","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}