White House press secretary Josh Earnest Thursday highlighted the assassinations of two police officers in New York City in December to pressure Republicans to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security in coming weeks.
“Particularly in the aftermath of the terrible, tragic shooting of those two police officers in New York City, we saw some very aggressive rhetoric from Republicans suggesting that it was important for our men and women in uniform to know that their political leaders have their backs,” Earnest said of the shooting of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
“I’m not sure what you can do to more undermine the relationship between political leaders and law enforcement than to threaten to withhold their paychecks, even while they’re doing their job,” he added.
The gunman in Brooklyn said he shot the two officers as retaliation for police killings of Michael Brown in Ferugson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City.
Earnest did not specify how increased DHS spending would have made a difference in the New York murders. The NYPD is not part of Homeland Security, though DHS does maintain some services — including fusion centers and a National Terrorism Advisory System — with potential applicability to local law enforcement. Prior to the December killings, Baltimore police, using fax and teletype messages, alerted their New York counterparts that alleged shooter Ismaaiyl Brinsley had shot his girlfriend eight hours earlier and was believed to be in Brooklyn, but Ramos and Liu never received that alert.
Republicans insist they will find a way by late February to roll back the president’s deferral of deportations for up to 5 million illegal immigrants, while not sacrificing the agency’s national security efforts. Conservatives had hoped they would have more leverage to force Obama’s hand on the issue following their takeover of the Senate earlier this month.
Still, Earnest on Thursday said Obama would veto any legislation that limited his executive action on immigration, calling for Republicans to “come to their senses” on DHS funding.
