Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) acknowledged at a town hall Tuesday that Democrats are responsible for the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown at a time the nation’s terror threat is “higher than usual.”
While discussing the 47-day-long shutdown in Spring Lake Park, Minn., the far-left “Squad” lawmaker explained that congressional Democrats refused to back a DHS funding bill unless Republicans agreed to include changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“As many of you know, Democrats said we are not going to pass the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security unless they agreed to ten reforms, simple things like unmasking ICE agents when they were patrolling our communities,” Omar said.
The congresswoman asserted that Republicans and the White House “refused” to accept the proposal, resulting in the partial government shutdown.
“So far, the Republicans and the president have refused to say ‘yes’ to any of those reforms,” Omar said. “Which means the department doesn’t have the resources to be able to pay for not just ICE and [Customs and Border Protection], but they don’t have the resources to pay for TSA agents. They don’t have the resources to fund the Coast Guard, to fund our cybersecurity employees.”
“In a time when our terror alarm is higher than usual,” she added.
House Democrats have repeatedly refused to reopen DHS since federal funding lapsed on Feb. 14.
Early last month — amid heightened concerns over the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack on the homeland – all but four House Democrats voted against a DHS funding measure that included several Democratic demands, including a body camera mandate and training requirements for ICE agents.
Last week, nearly every House Democrat opposed a stopgap measure to fund DHS for 60 days.
Senate Democrats have similarly repeatedly refused to support GOP efforts to reopen the department.
Last week, the upper chamber cleared a DHS funding bill – without appropriations for ICE and CBP – that the House plans to take up in the coming days.
Senate Republicans intend to fund ICE and CBP through the reconciliation process – which does not require a 60-vote threshold to pass – at a later date.