Democrats unite to threaten shutdown over immigration raids

Having often struggled to mount effective opposition to Donald Trump, Democrats this weekend found an issue they could unite on: the threat of a government shutdown over the US president’s crackdown on immigration.

Senators were loathe to risk another costly government shutdown, fearing a backlash if thousands of federal workers were furloughed and public services halted just months after the previous shutdown.

But the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Peretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents on Saturday has changed their calculus.

Democratic lawmakers now say they will not support legislation that includes money for the Department of Homeland Security until federal immigration agents are reined in. This leaves congress with just days to reach an agreement before the government funding deadline of Friday, January 30.

Pretty’s killing by Border Patrol agents was the second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis this month, following the shooting of poet Renee Nicole Judd by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in her car two weeks ago.

“I’m not going to give ICE or Border Patrol another dime given how these agencies operate. Democrats are not going to fund that,” Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator from California, said Sunday.

“The government will shut down if Republicans insist on lumping this in with other government funding,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press.

Earlier in the week, Patty Murray, a Democratic senator from Washington state, said the shutdown would not do anything to “restrict” ICE.

But after Preeti was killed, Murray changed her position.

“Federal agents cannot kill people in broad daylight without facing any consequences. I will not support the DHS bill as it stands,” she wrote on X.

Any bill to fund the government would need the support of 60 senators to avoid a shutdown. Republicans control the Senate by a vote of 53 to 47, meaning at least seven Democrats would need to sign on to a Republican-backed funding plan for the government to remain open.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said late Saturday that his party has the votes to block any legislation that provides more federal money to ICE.

“What is happening in Minnesota is horrific — and unacceptable in any American city,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to advance the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”

Schumer on Sunday called on Senate Republicans to craft legislation to keep the government open while crafting a separate bill to rewrite Department of Homeland Security funding.

“Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills as we work to rewrite the DHS bill,” he said. “This is the best course of action, and the American people stand with us.”

John Thune, Republican Senate Majority Leader, did not immediately respond to Schumer’s request.

Senate Democrats were scheduled to hold a conference call Sunday evening to discuss their strategy in the funding battle. Lawmakers are not expected to return to Washington until at least Tuesday, following a dangerous storm on the East Coast.

Republicans and federal authorities continue to insist that agents were acting in self-defense when they shot Pretty, despite video footage that contradicts that position.

Protests spread across the county, with some demonstrators calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency that has been on the front lines of the crackdown.

Pretty’s death sparked rare interventions from former Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who described the incident as a “wake-up call” for the nation.

“For weeks now, people across the country have been rightfully outraged by the spectacle of masked ICE recruiters and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that appear designed to intimidate, harass, provoke, and endanger the residents of a major American city,” Obama and former First Lady Michelle said in a statement.

“These unprecedented tactics… have now led to the shooting deaths of two American citizens. However, rather than attempt to impose some semblance of discipline and accountability on the agents who deployed them, the President and current administration officials appear eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. Peretti and Rene Judd, which have never been informed by any serious investigation — and which appear to directly contradict the video evidence.”

The shooting could equally be seen as a wake-up call for Democrats, who have been accused of ineffectiveness in confronting the Trump administration’s aggressive tactics while their voters have grown angrier.

There is evidence that Trump is also under pressure on the issue. A New York Times Siena poll conducted this week showed that only 36 percent of voters approved of the way ICE does its job, while 63 percent disapproved, including 70 percent of independent voters. Nearly one in five Republicans said ICE “went too far.”

The most recent government shutdown — which ran from October 1 to November 12 last year — was the longest in US history. It only ended when a handful of Democratic senators crossed the political aisle in a move that split the party, with many lawmakers accusing their colleagues of capitulating to Trump and Republicans.

But Democrats were nearly unanimous in expressing their anger over the events in Minneapolis on Saturday, along with their willingness to shut down the government over the issue.

Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, and Brian Schatz — all Democrats who helped break the impasse last November — were quick to say they would not vote for the funding package that includes money for DHS. Other moderates strongly criticized the agency even when they stopped short of saying how they intended to vote.

“I hate shutdowns. I’m one of the people who helped negotiate the solution to end the last shutdown. But I can’t vote for a bill that includes funding for ICE under these circumstances,” Angus King, an independent senator from Maine, who caucus with Democrats and also broke the deadlock in November, told CBS News on Sunday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently ramped up deportation efforts in Maine.

Jeanne Shaheen, the New Hampshire Democrat who led negotiations to end the latest shutdown, said federal officers were “out of control.”

“There’s a reason we’re raising concerns about what DHS is doing and how their federal agents are working,” she told Fox News on Sunday, without explaining how she plans to vote.

With a budget of $85 billion, ICE has become the best-funded U.S. law enforcement agency, ahead of the FBI. Its funding received a boost in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” legislation last year.

“We now have a bill to fund them and give them more money. I’m not voting for that,” Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota senator and gubernatorial candidate, said on Sunday.

He added, “Law enforcement depends on trust. We have witnessed a complete collapse of trust.”