Partial US shutdown looms amid political stand-off over ICE
Despite a 43-day shutdown late last year, US Senate Democrats demand immigration reforms to avert another one
With a partial US government shutdown looming, Senate Democrats laid out a list of demands on Wednesday for the Department of Homeland Security, including an enforceable code of conduct for federal agents conducting immigration arrests and a requirement that officers show identification as the country reels from the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
It remained unclear if US President Donald Trump and Republicans would be willing to meet those demands, even as funding for DHS and a swathe of other government agencies was at risk of expiring on Saturday. Irate Democrats have pledged to block a spending bill unless their demands for reforms are met.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that the legislation won’t pass until US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “reined in and overhauled”.
“The American people support law enforcement, they support border security, they do not support ICE terrorising our streets and killing American citizens,” Schumer said.
With an uncertain path ahead, the stand-off threatened to plunge the country into another shutdown just two months after Democrats blocked a spending bill over expiring federal healthcare subsidies, a dispute that closed the government for 43 days as Republicans refused to negotiate.