House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries poured cold water on the idea of Democrats accepting anything less than their full 10 demands of Republicans to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from shutting down in five days.
“Not at this point,” Jeffries (D-NY) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Dramatic changes are necessary to the manner in which the Department of Homeland Security officers are conducting themselves before any funding bill should move forward.”
GOP leadership had publicly accused Democrats of declining to negotiate on their 10-point demands rolled out last week and faulted them for only granting about 10 days to cut a deal.
Some of the demands include red lines for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), such as a bar on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from wearing masks and tighter restrictions on judicial warrants for immigration-related activities.
“Our team, our folks have tried to get with them, to sit down at the table and with the White House to reach an agreement,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) lamented on the Senate floor Thursday.
“They’re not engaging.”
Jeffries claimed Sunday that it’s the Democrats who “haven’t heard back” from GOP leadership in “terms of the demands that we put on the table.”
While Republicans have already prefunded ICE and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, other DHS programs, such as the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and more, are in jeopardy.
Privately, some Democrats have toyed with the idea of funding the rest of DHS, except ICE and CBP, though critics in the party contend that would cede valuable leverage.
All other government programs outside of DHS are fully funded for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
Last week, the House voted to end the four-day government shutdown that emerged after Democrats began making demands for reforms in the wake of ICE’s shooting of Renee Good, who accelerated her vehicle in an officer’s direction and Border Patrol’s shooting of Alex Pretti, who had been pinned down.
“These are common-sense changes, things like mandatory body cameras, judicial warrants should absolutely be required before ICE agents can storm private property and rip everyday Americans out of their homes in such a violent fashion,” Jeffries contended.
“Of course, we need to make sure that there are no masks so that ICE is conducting itself like every other law enforcement agency in the country.”
Border czar Tom Homan announced last week that the Trump administration is rolling out a nationwide body camera policy for federal immigration officers, an effort that has already started in Minnesota.
President Trump has backed GOP efforts to negotiate a solution to get the rest of the government fully funded, keen on avoiding a repeat of the record-breaking 43-day shutdown last year.
Meanwhile, the right flank of the House GOP has been seeking to get the Senate to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which requires proof of citizenship in order to vote in US elections.
Democrats have been blocking that with the 60-vote filibuster.
“I haven’t said that they’re wrong,” Jeffries said about voter ID. “…Every state is empowered to be able to make the decision on their own. And we completely and totally support that. What Donald Trump wants to do is try to nationalize the election.”
