Chris Walker
Senate Democrats reached a deal with the White House on Thursday evening to avert a government shutdown that was set to occur this weekend over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Earlier in the day, Democrats blocked a spending bill using a filibuster in order to force the Trump administration into negotiations over its violent deportation campaign in cities across the U.S. The raids have involved DHS agents — most notably from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) — terrorizing and abducting residents, with immigration agents killing two people in Minneapolis this month.
Support for blocking the spending package gained more favor within the Democratic Senate conference after the shooting and killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti by CBP agents.
“Until ICE is properly reined in and overhauled legislatively, the DHS funding bill doesn’t have the votes to pass,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said, vowing that his party would filibuster until a deal was reached.
Democrats were hoping they could force negotiations, issuing three specific demands:
- Ending roving patrols by immigration agents and tightening rules requiring the use of warrants;
- Creating a universal code of conduct for federal agents when it comes to the use of force;
- And forbidding agents from wearing masks, requiring them to display their identification more clearly, and making body cameras an essential feature of their work.
However, mere hours after they blocked the spending package, the White House announced it had reached a deal with Senate Democrats, who later confirmed the deal was legitimate.
The deal will not prevent a shutdown from happening, as any bill passed by the Senate will still need to be passed by the House, which is recessed until next week. But the compromise means that the shutdown will last for about two days, rather than indefinitely.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The two parties have agreed to fund most federal government functions. Funding for DHS will last for the next two weeks, allowing for negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on the issues listed above to commence during that time.
The deal represents a major concession from Democrats — by allowing spending for most of the government to be approved, they give up a large bargaining chip to ensure their demands, however milquetoast, are taken seriously.
Critics have blasted Democrats’ list of demands as weak and ineffectual to begin with, pointing out that they don’t even include a call for federal immigration agents to leave Minneapolis. Notably, ICE is already ignoring dozens of judicial orders, and any reforms included in a new funding bill may be similarly disregarded.
Meanwhile, support for abolishing ICE altogether has reached record levelsthis month, with more Americans in favor of abolishing the agency than opposed for the first time in recent history. But these calls have been largely ignored by lawmakers — so far, just one Democratic senator, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, has come out in favor of getting rid of ICE.
“We cannot and we must not vote to send a single nickel to this lawless organization,” Markey said this week, labeling the agency as “Trump’s secret police.”
“Right now, Democrats have the power to defund and abolish ICE. We should do it,” Markey added. “Anyone who supports funding DHS and ICE is supporting the murder of Americans. We can stop this. Not one penny more for the Department of Homeland Security.”
Originally published by Truthout.
.jpg){kind=link}