A masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent knocks on a car window on Jan. 12, 2026, in Minnesota. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday outlined the “common sense” changes they want to implement to federal immigration enforcement, saying reforms need to be added to a funding package that must be enacted before the weekend to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after a closed-door luncheon that conference lawmakers agreed on several policy limitations.
This includes:
- The End of Patrols;
- Tightening the rules for the operate of warrants;
- Require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to coordinate with state and local law enforcement;
- Establish a uniform code of conduct that ensures that federal law enforcement is held to the same standards that apply to state and local authorities;
- ban on wearing masks;
- Requiring the operate of body cameras;
- Designating immigration officers carry proper identification.
“These are common-sense reforms that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,” Schumer said. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are simply choosing chaos over order. They are choosing to shield ICE from responsibility for American lives.”
Schumer said Democrats wanted to negotiate with Republicans but urged Senate Republican leaders to separate the Department of Homeland Security funding bill from a package that includes five other full-year budget bills.
To avoid a partial government shutdown, the draft laws must come into force before Friday’s midnight deadline.
Schumer said he expected senators to be able to “very quickly negotiate a bipartisan proposal” on restrictions on federal immigration activities.
Thune and the White House are participating
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before Schumer’s speech that he was not ruling out options for funding the government.
“These are all hypotheses at this point and I reserve the option to consider this,” Thune said. “But I think the best way forward, as I said, is to keep the package intact. And if there are things that Democrats want and that the administration can agree to, then let’s do that.”
Thune expressed concern that any changes to the six-bill government spending package, which includes funding for the Defense Department, would require final approval by the House of Representatives before it could take effect.
The House of Representatives is not present this week and is not expected to return until Capitol Hill
Monday, potentially leading to a brief funding shortfall if Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., doesn’t recall the chamber early.
A White House official said in a statement to States Newsroom that the administration wants to avoid a shutdown and is committed to “productive dialogue with Congress.”
“A call for agreement on legislative reforms as a condition of funding for the Department of Homeland Security, with the government funding deadline just 48 hours away, is a call for a partial government shutdown,” a White House official said. “This bipartisan budget package, which Democrats agreed to and have now walked away from, has been in negotiations for more than a month. The White House urges Democrats in Congress not to subject the country to another debilitating government shutdown.”
Schumer said during his press conference that the White House “didn’t have any concrete, good, concrete ideas.”
Alex Pretti is killed
Congress has approved a half-dozen full-year government funding bills but has not yet approved the remaining measures, which account for a gigantic portion of government spending.
A partial government shutdown would impact the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury. The Executive Office of the President, the Supreme Court and the Judiciary would also go without funding.
Democrats’ insistence on additional guidance on how federal immigration agents operate follows the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, the second person in Minneapolis shot by federal immigration agents.
ICE would still be able to operate during a shutdown because of an influx of funds from the massive tax and spending cuts package passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last summer.
The One Big Beautiful Act provided the Department of Homeland Security with $170 billion over four years for immigration enforcement, $75 billion of which went directly to ICE.
The Homeland Security appropriations bill at the center of the current dispute in Congress keeps ICE’s funding at $10 billion for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30.
In the course of the January 7: Shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good Democrats and Republicans agreed on some changes to the department included in the bill, according to federal immigration official Jonathan Ross. That includes $20 million for body cameras for ICE and other federal immigration agents, $20 million for independent monitoring of detention centers and a $1 billion cut in Customs and Border Protection funding, totaling $18.3 billion.
Border guards Shooting of Pretti on January 24th prompted Democrats to call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and for additional reforms at DHS.
No masks, body cameras required
Maine Independent Sen. Angus King said Wednesday that while the funding bill under debate provides money for optional body cameras, he wants to require immigration officers to wear them and provide identification.
“I think one of the things that should be in this is no masks,” King said. “There is no law enforcement agency in the United States that wears masks. I have never seen that in my life.”
King added that he would like to see greater “accountability” from federal immigration officials, including “independent investigations of injuries to detainees or private citizens.”
The top Democrat on the panel that handles homeland security funding, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said the proposed changes are a start.
“I have a much longer list of reforms that I would like to see, but we are moving in a world of possibilities and I think that these reforms are things that we could implement in the next few days or the next week,” he said.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was fine with splitting the homeland security spending bill from the rest of the package.
Murkowski also said she believes Trump should replace Noem.
“Ultimately it’s his decision who he keeps in that position, whether it’s Secretary Noem or someone else. I understand that. And he will decide,” she said. “I just think he deserves better.”
Two “losers,” says Trump
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis also called for Noem’s resignation and the removal of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller. Miller is the primary architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy and played a critical role in the president’s first administration.
On Tuesday, in an interview with ABC News, Trump called Tillis and Murkowski “both losers” for calling for and criticizing Noem’s resignation their handling of immigration operations in Minnesota. The president has stood by Noem.
“I’m kind of happy to be called a loser,” Tillis said. “Apparently this qualifies me to be DHS Secretary and Senior Advisor to the President.”
South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds didn’t entirely rule out supporting a five-bill funding package if GOP leaders agree to scrap the DHS appropriations bill.
“I’m not going to beat the president to the punch on this … but even if you do, the House still has to agree to it,” Rounds said. “The question is, logistically, can they get back in time to get it done by Friday night?”
Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, wrote in a social media post that the current bill, while not perfect, is “better than these alternatives.”
“But the worst thing Congress could do would be to allow a powerful department to operate with a blank check under a continuing resolution or to shut down the government entirely.”
