{"id":460820,"date":"2026-02-10T20:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/460820\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:45:07","slug":"democrats-say-white-house-offer-on-ice-insufficient-as-funds-deadline-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/460820\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats say White House offer on ICE ‘insufficient’ as funds deadline looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Democratic leaders say a proposal from the White House is \u201cincomplete and insufficient\u201d as they demand new restrictions on President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown<\/a> and threaten a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department. <\/p>\n

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday that a Republican counterproposal to the list of demands<\/a> they transmitted over the weekend \u201cincluded neither details nor legislative text\u201d and does not address \u201cthe concerns Americans have about ICE\u2019s lawless conduct.\u201d The proposal was not released publicly. <\/p>\n

The Democrats\u2019 rejection of the Republican counteroffer comes as time is running short, with a shutdown<\/a> of the Homeland Security Department threatening to begin Saturday. Among the Democrats\u2019 demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and a stop to racial profiling. They say such changes are necessary after two protesters were fatally shot<\/a> by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe simply want ICE to follow the same standards that most law enforcement agencies across America already follow,\u201d Schumer said Tuesday. \u201cDemocrats await the next answer from our Republican counterparts.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hope for a deal <\/p>\n

Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had expressed optimism about the rare negotiations between Democrats and the White House, saying there was \u201cforward progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thune said it was a good sign that the two sides were trading papers, and \u201chopefully they can find some common ground here.\u201d <\/p>\n

But coming to an agreement on the charged issue of immigration enforcement will be difficult. Rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties are skeptical<\/a> and there were few signs of potential compromise on the main issues that Democrats have laid out. <\/p>\n

Schumer and Jeffries have said they want immigration officers to remove their masks<\/a>, to show identification and to better coordinate with local authorities. They have also demanded a stricter use-of-force policy for the federal officers, legal safeguards at detention centers and a prohibition on tracking protesters with body-worn cameras.<\/p>\n

Among other demands, Democrats say Congress should end indiscriminate arrests, \u201cimprove warrant procedures and standards,\u201d ensure the law is clear that officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant and require that before a person can be detained, it\u2019s verified that the person is not a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n

Democrats made the demands for new restrictions on ICE and other federal law enforcement after ICU nurse Alex Pretti<\/a> was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, and some Republicans suggested that new restrictions were necessary. Renee Good<\/a> was shot by ICE agents on Jan. 7.<\/p>\n

Many Democrats said they won\u2019t vote for another penny of Homeland Security funding until enforcement is radically scaled back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cPeriod. Full stop.\u201d <\/p>\n

Republican counterproposal<\/p>\n

Jeffries said Tuesday that the White House offer \u201cwalked away from\u201d their proposals for better identification of ICE agents, for more judicial warrants and for a prohibition on excessive use of force. Republicans also rejected their demand for an end to racial or ethnic profiling, Jeffries said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White House is not serious at this moment in dramatically reforming ICE,\u201d Jeffries said. <\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers have also pushed back on the requests. Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a close ally of Trump, said Tuesday that he\u2019s willing to discuss more body cameras and better training \u2014 both of which are already in the Homeland spending bill \u2014 but that he would reject the Democrats\u2019 most central demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey start talking about judicial warrants? No. They start talking about demasking them? No, not doing that. They want them to have a photo ID with their name on it? Absolutely not,\u201d Mullin said. <\/p>\n

Republicans have said ICE agents should be allowed to wear masks because they are more frequently targeted than other law enforcement officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are doxing them and targeting them,\u201d said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to talk about things that are reasonable and achievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans also have demands of their own, including the addition of legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on cities that they say do not do enough to crack down on illegal immigration. <\/p>\n

At a House hearing on Tuesday<\/a>, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, said his agency is \u201conly getting started\u201d and would not be intimidated as his officers carry out Trump\u2019s mass deportation agenda. <\/p>\n

Trump deals with Democrats <\/p>\n

Congress is trying to renegotiate the DHS spending bill after Trump agreed to a Democratic request<\/a> that it be separated out from a larger spending measure that became law last week. That package extended Homeland Security funding at current levels only through Feb. 13, creating a brief window for action as the two parties discuss new restrictions on ICE and other federal officers. <\/p>\n

While he agreed to separate the funding, Trump has not publicly responded to the Democrats\u2019 specific asks or suggested any areas of potential compromise. <\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said late last week that the Trump administration is willing to discuss some items on the Democrats\u2019 list, but \u201cothers don\u2019t seem like they are grounded in any common sense, and they are nonstarters for this administration.\u201d <\/p>\n

Consequences of a shutdown <\/p>\n

In addition to ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the homeland security bill includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. If DHS shuts down, Thune said last week, \u201cthere\u2019s a very good chance we could see more travel problems\u201d similar to the 43-day government closure last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in both parties have suggested they could separate out funding for ICE and Border Patrol and pass the rest of it by Friday. But Thune has been cool to that idea, saying instead that Congress should pass another short-term extension for all of DHS while they negotiate the possible new restrictions. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s additional time that\u2019s needed, then hopefully Democrats would be amenable to another extension,\u201d Thune said. <\/p>\n

Many Democrats are unlikely to vote for another extension. But Republicans could potentially win enough votes in both chambers from Democrats if they feel hopeful about negotiations. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ball is in the Republicans\u2019 court,\u201d Jeffries said Monday. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Matt Brown, Joey Cappelletti and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Democratic leaders say a proposal from the White House is \u201cincomplete and insufficient\u201d as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[203372,23,22149,9286,1340,8649,3505,12,793,12481,790,9283,17153,118966,13410,16950,196794,3,111,191965,200479,21612,8638,3770,9293,6148,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":["post-460820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-alex-pretti","tag-america","tag-border-security","tag-charles-schumer","tag-congress","tag-democracy","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-hakeem-jeffries","tag-immigration","tag-john-thune","tag-karoline-leavitt","tag-markwayne-mullin","tag-mike-johnson","tag-minneapolis","tag-minnesota-ice-crackdown","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-renee-good","tag-send-to-apple-news","tag-todd-lyons","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-united-states","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\/460820","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=460820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}