Progressives in Congress draw a line against ICE

WASHINGTON – The Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of nearly 100 House Democrats, announced Tuesday that its members will oppose any new funding for immigration enforcement until “meaningful reforms” are implemented.

The caucus’ new official position reads: “The CPC opposes any appropriations bill that provides funding to immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security unless there are significant and meaningful reforms to immigration enforcement practices.”

“The vote was overwhelming, almost unanimous,” Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), one of the group’s leaders, told reporters.

Lawmakers took the stance amid protests over President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to carry out mass deportations. Last week, ICE officials Renee Nicole Good shot to deathan unarmed US citizen in Minneapolis. A day later, Customs and Border Protection agents shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon.

They are the latest in a series of violent incidents carried out by ICE agents in Democratic-led cities. Anti-ICE protesters gathered across the country over the weekend, spurred by the Minneapolis and Portland shootings.

During a press event with progressives on Tuesday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) told reporters that it’s time for Congress to “come down” after Trump’s recklessness. He condemned the “callousness” of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in claiming that Good had tried to run over an ICE agent and was “a domestic terrorist.”

“No matter what your political beliefs…an American died,” Frost fumed. “She was murdered – needless to say, executed – by a federal agent who looked her in the face, looked her in the eyes and then shot her in the face. And when her car turned into a coffin and rolled uncontrollably and crashed into a pole, he called her a ‘damn bitch.'”

“It’s a very dark time,” he added. “I’m proud of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for taking a principled stand in saying that we’re not going to be complicit in the murder of our people, the terrorizing of our communities, and we’re going to do something about it.”

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Democrats could cause real problems for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who can only afford to lose one GOP vote in the House, given his party’s position. painfully narrow voting margin.

The president is trying to get a half-dozen appropriations bills passed by Jan. 30 to avoid a partial government shutdown. Funding for DHS, which includes ICE, was not included in the batch of spending bills. released on sunday by the House Appropriations Committee.

Johnson could try to tie DHS funding to another spending package, but the prospect of funding ICE is becoming so toxic for some Democrats that the president could end up ruining any other issue he tries to tie to money for immigration enforcement.

Progressive Caucus leaders noted that they do not intend to shut down the government in their fight over ICE funding.

“We are not ready to talk about a government shutdown,” Garcia said. “We’re talking about … the need to reform an agency that has received so much money that it doesn’t know what to do with it, and the more it has, the more it will spend and the greater the abuses that will occur against American citizens and other individuals.”

Some Democrats, such as Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), have previously called for reforming ICE and restructuring it from the bottom up. When asked if he agreed with that sentiment, Garcia indicated yes.

“I had never used the term ‘abolish ICE’ until the last round of beatings my neighborhood received when [top Border Patrol official] “Greg Bovino and company showed up to terrorize our community,” the Illinois Democrat said. “That’s when I said, ‘We can never go back to normal.'”

“People will never understand that ICE is a government agency, that it has legitimacy, because of all the violence they have perpetrated,” he said.

“It’s a very dark time.”

– Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.)

Progressive leaders did not elaborate on what reforms they demand to support DHS funding. But Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a former leader of the group, said Democrats on the House immigration subcommittee have already been working on a list of “significant” DHS reforms they want.

They include things like banning ICE agents from wearing masks, requiring arrest warrants and requiring the federal government to share information with state law enforcement officials about independent investigations.

Democrats on the judiciary panel “will not vote for these appropriations bills that do not include that kind of meaningful reform and accountability,” Jayapal said.

In the Senate, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has similarly been calling for reforms at DHS before approving new funding for the agency.

“Democrats cannot vote for a DHS budget that does not curb the growing lawlessness of this agency,” he said. posted on social media last week, along with footage of Good’s fatal shooting.

Murphy, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations panel that oversees DHS, is working on its own legislation to stop ICE. His proposed reforms are similar to those Democrats outlined Tuesday, with provisions such as banning ICE agents from wearing masks and requiring Border Patrol agents to remain at the border.

The Connecticut senator may be considering another reform proposal after criticizing Noem on Monday for banning lawmakers from entering ICE detention centers.

“Members of Congress have a clear and detailed legal right under the existing DHS funding bill to be able to enter these facilities without this notice,” Murphy posted. on social networks. “So if Congress is going to continue funding DHS, there must be significant restrictions to curb this blatant lawlessness.”