Republicans Reject Democrats’ Demands for More Stringent ICE, Border Patrol Reforms, Leaving Air Passengers in the Lurch

Republicans are balking at Democrats’ demands for even more stringent reforms at immigration enforcement agencies like ICE and Border Patrol, saying negotiations are not going well. The Senate majority leader, Senator John Thune, has grown so frustrated that he now plans to put up his own compromise bill in the hopes that he can peel off enough Democrats, or at the very least, shame those who vote against reopening the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Thune on Tuesday morning expressed optimism that a deal to reopen DHS was in sight after President Trump made a handshake agreement with GOP colleagues the previous night. By Tuesday afternoon, Democrats had already slammed the door on that proposal, meaning the chaos at airports across the country is due to continue for several more days at the very least. “Time kills all deals,” Senator Bernie Moreno, who helped negotiate the GOP funding compromise, wrote on X when it became clear that Democrats were not going to play ball. On Wednesday, Democrats again insisted to Republicans that the GOP offers to reform ICE were not nearly enough. The president and his allies have expressed openness to forcing agents to wear body cameras in most circumstances, allow protections for “sensitive” places like schools and hospitals, and to ensure agents are using judicial warrants in more scenarios. Mr. Schumer announced that Democrats had sent a counteroffer to Republican colleagues on Wednesday, though he did not disclose details about what exactly he wanted from the White House. “Our offer is a reasonable, good-faith proposal that contains some of the very same asks Democrats have been talking about now for months,” Mr. Schumer told reporters. Republicans, however, claimed that Mr. Schumer is moving the goalposts. “They don’t seem to care!” an animated Senator John Barrasso said on the Senate floor Wednesday, telling the stories of TSA agents who are now donating plasma and are relying on charity from their neighbors to get by. Mr. Barrasso, the Senate majority whip, said that Mr. Thune will hold a vote on the floor on Wednesday to try to fund the department once again. For weeks, Republicans have pushed for unanimous consent requests and votes on a total reopening of the department in order for negotiations around ICE to continue while TSA is functioning. Democrats, in turn, have tried to fund TSA and other DHS components, though those requests have been blocked as well. Now, Mr. Thune plans to call up the bill to fund the entire department except for ICE and its Enforcement and Removal Operations. That vote is most likely to fail, given opposition by leading Senate Democrats. Senator Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the subcommittee in charge of writing the DHS budget, quickly slammed the door on Republicans’ offer on Tuesday, telling reporters that the department would just “comingle” funds for non-ICE agencies in order to continue carrying out deportations with no reforms. “So, if you just don’t fund ERO, you’re still funding thousands of unqualified agents all over the country [who are] disobeying the law and terrorizing our communities,” Mr. Murphy said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense — the proposal they’re making — absent reforms.”As of Wednesday, the situation at airports across the country is growing exceptionally dire, and with no deal in sight and a two-week congressional recess scheduled to begin in just a few days, it appears that the real nightmare scenario could become a reality. According to TSA, more than 450 of its agents have already quit amid this shutdown, with callout rates rising from just four percent pre-shutdown to 11 percent as of Wednesday. Some airports are experiencing TSA agent callout rates of 40 or 50 percent, according to the agency. The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, warned over the weekend that he expects many more TSA agents will quit if they miss this coming paycheck, which is supposed to be deposited on Friday.

Republicans Reject Democrats’ Demands for More Stringent ICE, Border Patrol Reforms, Leaving Air Passengers in the Lurch

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