WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer boiled down the fight over the Department of Homeland Security’s shutdown to three main sticking points — as thousands of federal workers, including ICE agents and TSA screeners, are now going without paychecks.
Schumer (D-NY) reiterated the three main pillars he outlined in late January, despite him and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) publicly laying out 10 specific demands after appearing to have some daylight between them.
“The bottom line is we have three basic objectives to rein in ICE and end the violence,” Schumer told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday when asked if he’d accept anything less than the Dems’ 10 demands.
Those three objectives include ending the Trump administration’s roving ICE patrols, stronger accountability for immigration enforcement officers, and barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from wearing masks.
DHS officially shut down at the end of Friday. Republicans previously funded ICE and Customs and Border Protection under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
That means the partial government shutdown impacts other DHS agencies such as the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Border czar Tom Homan said that ICE agents won’t get paid during the funding lapse. During prior shutdowns, the Trump administration managed to move money around to give them pay. The Post contacted ICE for clarification.
“ICE has continued to enforce the law across the country,” Homan later told “State of the Union.” “They’re already funded. Now, the ICE officers won’t be getting paid, but they’re getting used to that, it seems like.”
All other government operations outside of DHS are fully funded for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
Democrats only gave Republicans 10 days in the latest funding bill to negotiate over their demands for reforms to ICE, despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) pushing for more time.
The Trump administration has made overtures, including the deployment of body cameras to all immigration enforcement officers and winding down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has poured cold water on some of the Democrats’ demands, such as barring ICE officers from wearing masks and tighter warrant requirements.
Schumer downplayed concerns that barring ICE officers from wearing masks could expose them to retaliation from the cartels.
“Every other police department in America is unmasked. ICE can do the same,” Schumer shot back when asked. “This is a rogue force.”
“They’re almost trained, it looks like, to be nasty and mean and cruel and go way beyond what ordinary police departments do,” he went on. “So they need to be reined in.”
The White House had given Democrats a counteroffer last week, but the Dems quickly rejected that.
This is now the third government shutdown within the past three months. Unlike the record-breaking 43-day one last year, the current funding lapse is technically a partial shutdown rather than a full-fledged one.
Congress is currently out of town on a one-week recess.
