#dhs-funding

#dhs-funding

Late last week, the Senate voted to pass the final bundle of appropriations bills, but separated legislation that funds the DHS, amid widespread backlash over the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. While the House prepares to vote, a partial shutdown is under way. Instead, lawmakers in the upper chamber voted to pass a stopgap measure to keep the DHS operating for two weeks while Democrats hammer out negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of federal immigration enforcement.

Several lawmakers expressed firm opposition to voting for the funding measure, saying they are a "hell no," sources told Axios. But another group of top Democrats also offered points in favor of the bill, including two former top party leaders, sources said. Driving the news: On the call, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) recounted to members how he told Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday not to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill, sources said.

The US Senate approved a major government funding package on Friday, after the killings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis upended spending talks and gave out-of-power rare leverage over Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. In a 71-29 tally, the Senate overcame last-minute opposition from a handful of Republicans to rally behind a deal the president struck with Democrats, an unusual display of bipartisanship as tensions rise nationally over the presence of ICE in American cities.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) has come out swinging in favor of abolishing ICE and blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), demanding that Democrats use their leverage to do so after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) released a tepid set of demands for a funding vote in the coming days. In a short video posted to social media on Wednesday evening, Markey said that Democrats "have the power" to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and must use it.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND on Monday issued a statement condemning the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which DHS oversees, following the fatal shooting by Border Patrol agents of nurse Alex Pretti at a Minnesota protest last week, the second protest shooting in a month. Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she could not back a contentious federal agency funding bill currently making its way through Congress in light of recent events.

Schumer's office said he urged Trump to release federal funding for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel during the meeting, which they said the president requested. Trump last year said he was withholding federal funding from the massive public works project - which includes the construction of new rail tunnels under the Hudson River -after Democrats picked a government shutdown fight.

The raid at Alba Wine & Spirits Warehouse in New Jersey resulted in the arrest of 20 individuals, highlighting the fear and trauma in immigrant communities.