Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican proposal to end the partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, now in its 39th day.
The proposal would provide all funding for DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to arrest and deport immigrants in the country illegally.
Newsmax congressional correspondent Kilmeny Duchardt told "Bianca Across the Nation" on Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the plan would carve out $5.5 billion from ICE.
President Donald Trump initially rejected the idea but later signaled openness after a White House meeting Monday night with Senate Republicans.
Duchardt reported the plan would include some modest reforms, but Thune indicated Republicans are not going to bend over backward for Democrats, saying they continue to add new demands.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday that Democrats would submit a counteroffer and would still insist on reforms to "rein in" ICE.
"We have to rein in ICE and stop the violence. We need reform," Schumer said at a news conference after meeting with his Democratic colleagues at lunch.
"Every one of my colleagues, every one — A, believes we should be unified, and, B, we need reforms of ICE — every single one."
Schumer noted that the reforms Democrats are seeking include requirements that federal immigration officers obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes and that they be prohibited from wearing masks.
"You know what we've called for all along," he said.
"I'm not going to get into specifics, but we need strong, strong reforms, and we need to rein in ICE.
"We've been consistent in what we've been asking for from the get-go," Schumer said.
Republicans and DHS officials have argued the proposed changes would significantly hinder immigration enforcement operations.
They said requiring judicial warrants, rather than the administrative warrants ICE uses, would slow agents in time-sensitive situations and allow more suspects to evade arrest.
The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers have also defended agents wearing masks, saying the practice is necessary to protect officers from being identified, doxed, or targeted, particularly as threats against federal personnel have increased.
Lawmakers are facing mounting pressure to resolve funding concerns affecting DHS, which has been partially shut down since Feb. 14 over Democrats' demands for changes to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts.
But immigration enforcement operations remain fully funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Funding for other DHS components, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration, has lapsed, leaving those agencies operating without new appropriations.
Thousands of government employees, including TSA agents, have been working without pay for nearly a month.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been at the center of the negotiations on DHS funding.
She said at the news conference she has had "productive meetings with the White House."
But she added talks have become more difficult because Trump has been "making new and unreasonable demands over social media," referring to his demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act before he agrees to a DHS funding deal.
"We've been very clear that if we're talking about funding any part of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we absolutely must take some key steps to rein them in.
"The current Republican offer in front of us does not do that," Murray said. "Reforms must make it into law."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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