Congressional Democratic leaders issued a list of 10 demands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement reform on Wednesday, as they block a key government funding bill from advancing due to concerns about ICE tactics.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) wrote a letter to Republican leadership in both chambers, outlining a series of requests for ICE already well-circulated on Capitol Hill, including requiring federal officers to wear IDs and body cameras, prohibiting them from wearing masks, and making a judicial warrant a prerequisite to entering private property.
“It is critical that we come together to impose common sense reforms and accountability measures that the American people are demanding,” the two men wrote in the letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). “These are common-sense solutions that protect constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement.”
The demands come ahead of a Feb. 13 deadline for both parties to negotiate a path forward on a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The bill stalled in the Senate last month due to Democratic opposition, as they said they would not vote for DHS funding unless ICE agrees to a series of reforms. The push for such reforms surged in January, when two U.S. citizens were shot and killed during ICE-related operations in Minnesota, sparking sweeping protests and debate about the agency’s tactics.
The Trump administration has moved to de-escalate the situation amid mounting tensions, after initially taking a hard line against critics. But while President Donald Trump says he has opted for a “softer touch” in withdrawing 700 federal officers sent to Minnesota as part of an ICE surge, Schumer and Jeffries requested additional action on Wednesday. They urged Trump to “fully” ramp down the operation and remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from her position.
“The Trump administration has the power to take right now to show good faith,” they wrote as negotiations on DHS funding ramp up.
Schumer said Thursday morning that the reforms would force ICE to operate like “police forces and local sheriffs everywhere.” And he pushed Trump and Republicans to make further concessions on negotiations, suggesting public opinion is on the Democrats’ side.
“Even President Trump is realizing that they’re on the wrong side of this issue. They’re on the wrong side morally, they’re on the wrong side in terms of just being an American, because we in America have always had these values,” he said during an interview on MS Now’s Morning Joe. “This rogue ICE is just terrorizing our cities and violating the Constitution every minute they’re on the streets.”
Some policies proposed by the pair, such as body cameras, appear to be something the Trump administration is amenable to. Others, such as requiring the consent of states and localities to conduct large-scale ICE operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement, pose sweeping questions, as it could provide an immediate pathway for blue states such as California and Minnesota to block the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
NEARLY 160 HOUSE DEMOCRATS WANT TO IMPEACH NOEM BUT WON’T BITE ON TRUMP
Thune said Wednesday that Jeffries has not shown himself to be a “good faith” partner in DHS funding negotiations, putting politics above meaningful compromise.
“And I think he and, for that matter, Leader Schumer, both are afraid of their shadows, and they’re getting a lot of blowback and pressure from their left,” he told the Washington Examiner.
