'Wackos': GOP senators ridicule Dem demands for ICE reform as yet another shutdown looms
WASHINGTON — Another partial government shutdown seems all but certain, now Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have outsourced negotiations to fund the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to President Donald Trump’s White House.
“I'm for whatever the president wants,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story.
“We're dealing with a bunch of stupid people on the left that are more for evil than they are for good.”
Such fiery rhetoric on the right isn’t moving Democrats, who are banding together and demanding new protocols in the wake of the two ICE killings of peaceful protesters in Minnesota.
“I certainly don't have trust right now,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) told Raw Story.
“Unless I see something written down that they're willing to commit to, but right now, I did a town hall this weekend, the people in my state are furious at this and they're demanding real change.”
While the two parties were able to move past their disagreements and fund more than 95 percent of the federal government through next year, DHS is slated to run out of funding Saturday unless Congress intervenes.
‘It's stupidity’
Democrats have a long list of demands for ICE, including the end of administrative warrants, enhanced use-of-force standards, forcing DHS officials to wear identification, abandoning racial profiling and unmasking ICE agents.
“I hate that we're having to deal with this, it's stupidity,” Tuberville said. “We're dealing with people that are wackos out there.
“What happened to law and order in this country with respect to law enforcement? There's none of that on the left anymore because they're trying to protect their voting base and enough's enough.”
For their part, most Republicans appear to be doing all they can to protect ICE agents, including their identities by opposing Democrats’ demand that agents stop wearing masks.
“You become a police chief down in Central America, what the drug cartels will do is they'll send you a DVD with your children and wife going to church and school,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Raw Story.
“So why do these activists want to unmask? They've already doxed ICE officers. They've already threatened them. They want to threaten their families, too? I think this is a pretty important issue.”
With primary season heating up in states like Texas, unmasking and other Democratic demands are nonstarters for incumbents like Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who polls show trailing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his primary.
“They're being attacked, doxed and I think it's a reasonable protection of them and their families while they're enforcing federal law,” Cornyn told Raw Story. “It's not going to get my support, that's for sure, a prohibition against masking.”
It’s not just embattled incumbents. Rank-and-file Republicans are also rallying around ICE agents in the wake of the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good and the Jan. 24 killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti.
Republicans say the problem isn’t masked agents but masked protestors recording ICE operations.
“I'd be open to considering it if they also made it so the protesters couldn't wear masks, and then you made it a federal crime of severe punishment to dox a federal agent,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) told Raw Story.
“So if they did those two things, I think, honestly, I think the agents would probably not want to have the mask. But when they get doxed, it's a problem.”
While Republicans have their individual demands, they’re still waiting for their marching orders from President Trump. And as of now, neither has shown a willingness to reach across the aisle and agree to reform ICE.
“I'm not getting involved with this,” Tuberville said. “Really nobody on our side is getting involved, this is all the White House and the Democrats coming up with a plan.”
‘All on them’
While Democrats have laid out their list of demands publicly, the White House privately rejected most and instead sent over a broad, if private, framework for reforms they could support. Democratic leaders rejected that approach as secretive and unserious.
“We laid out what we're trying to get. The ball’s in the White House’s court. I haven't heard anything yet,” Sen. Kim of New Jersey said.
“The White House is the one that needs to give a sense of, they're actually going to follow through with the kind of accountability that people want.”
While ICE agents are getting most of the attention, if DHS funding lapses it would also undercut the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Transportation Security Administration.
That has increased chatter around another stopgap extension to buy the two sides time to reach a broader agreement on ICE reforms, but most rank-and-file Democrats say they have no appetite to assist the Trump administration’s DHS in the wake of the Minneapolis killings.
“I personally see no way that I'll vote for an extension of DHS funding,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. “It's all on them.
“We're not seeking negotiation, nor are we seeking a shutdown. Shutdown is the result of the Republicans. We can't make them agree. We're in the minority in the House and in the Senate … so all we have is our vote.”