The killing of a second U.S. citizen by federal agents in Minneapolis is deeply complicating efforts to avert another government shutdown in Washington as Democrats \u2014 and some Republicans \u2014 view the episode as a tipping point in the debate over the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement policies.<\/p>\n
Senate Democrats pledged to block funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless changes are made to rein in the federal agency\u2019s operations following the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse. The Democratic defections threaten to derail passage of a broad spending package that also includes funding for the State Department and the Pentagon, as well as education, health, labor, and transportation agencies.<\/p>\n
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) released a statement Monday calling on Republican Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to avert another shutdown by separating funding for DHS from the full appropriations package. \u201cSenate Democrats have made clear we are ready to quickly advance the five appropriations bills separately from the DHS funding bill before the January 30th deadline. The responsibility to prevent a partial government shutdown is on Leader Thune and Senate Republicans,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n
The standoff also revealed fractures among GOP lawmakers, who called for a federal and state investigation into the shooting and congressional hearings for federal officials to explain their tactics \u2014 demands that have put unusual pressure on the Trump administration. Senate Republicans must secure 60 votes to advance the spending measure in the chamber \u2014 a threshold they cannot reach on their own with their 53 seats.<\/p>\n
The job is further complicated by a time crunch: Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to reach a compromise or face a partial government shutdown. Senate Democrats already expressed reservations about supporting the Homeland Security funding after Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed this month by federal agents in Minneapolis. But Pretti\u2019s killing led Democrats to be more forceful in their opposition.<\/p>\n
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday he would oppose funding for the agencies involved in the Minneapolis operations, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. \u201cI\u2019m not giving ICE or Border Patrol another dime given how these agencies are operating. Democrats are not going to fund that,\u201d he said in an interview with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d \u201cI think anyone who votes to give them more money to do this will share in the responsibility and see more Americans die in our cities as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said in a statement last week that he would not \u201cgive more money to CBP and ICE to continue terrorizing our communities and breaking the law.\u201d He reiterated his stance hours after Pretti\u2019s killing. \u201cI will vote against any additional funding for Trump\u2019s ICE and CBP while they act with such reckless disregard for life, safety, and the Constitution,\u201d Padilla wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
While Senate Republicans largely intend to support the funding measure, some are publicly raising concerns about the Trump administration\u2019s training requirements for ICE agents and calling for congressional oversight hearings. \u201cA comprehensive, independent investigation of the shooting must be conducted in order to rebuild trust and Congressional committees need to hold hearings and do their oversight work,\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wrote on social media. \u201cICE agents do not have carte blanche in carrying out their duties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar demands are being made by House Republicans. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, formally sought testimony from leaders at ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying his \u201ctop priority remains keeping Americans safe.\u201d Homeland Security has not yet provided a public confirmation that it will attend the hearing, though Garbarino told reporters Saturday he has been \u201cin touch with the department\u201d and anticipates a full investigation.<\/p>\n
Many Republican lawmakers expressed concern over federal officials saying Pretti\u2019s killing was in part because of him having a loaded firearm. Pretti had a permit to carry, according to the Minneapolis police chief, and videos show him holding a cellphone, not brandishing a gun, before officers pushed him to the ground. \u201cCarrying a firearm is not a death sentence, it\u2019s a constitutionally protected God-given right, and if you don\u2019t understand this you have no business in law enforcement of government,\u201d Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
Following pushback from the GOP, President Trump appears to be seeking ways to tone down the tensions. The president said Monday he had a \u201cvery good call\u201d with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat he clashed with in recent weeks, and that they \u201cseemed to be on a similar wavelength\u201d on next steps.<\/p>\n
If Democrats are successful in striking down the Homeland Security spending package, some hinted at comprehensive immigration reforms to follow. California Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) detailed the plan on social media over the weekend, calling on Congress to repeal the $75 billion in supplemental funding for ICE in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. The allocation roughly tripled the budget for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
The shooting came as a slate of progressives renewed demands to \u201cabolish ICE\u201d and replace it with an agency that has congressional oversight. Congress must \u201ctear down and replace ICE with an agency that has oversight,\u201d Khanna said. \u201cWe owe that to nurse Pretti and the hundreds of thousands on the streets risking their lives to stand up for our freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n
The situation is complex, with both parties having different views on how to proceed. The killing of Alex Pretti has brought the debate over immigration enforcement policies to a boiling point, and it remains to be seen how lawmakers will navigate this challenging issue.<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Shutdown Crisis The killing of a second U.S. citizen by federal agents in Minneapolis is deeply complicating efforts to avert another government shutdown in Washington as Democrats \u2014 and some Republicans \u2014 view the episode as a tipping point in the debate over the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement policies. The Democrats’ Stance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/7194322\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5299x2782+0+376\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2Fb0%2Faa0a486c4e97b632099498ad05b6%2Ftrump-68993.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27682,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27679\/revisions\/27682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/los-angeles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}