For Democrats, The Dhs Fight Isn’t Just About An Immigration Overhaul — It’s Also The Money

The White House and congressional Democrats remain entrenched heading into week two of the partial government shutdown, with little progress to show for their efforts to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump officials this week dismissed Democrats’ latest proposal to overhaul federal immigration enforcement as “very unserious.” Democrats, meanwhile, put the onus on the GOP, criticizing the lack of “high level effort” from President Donald Trump and Hill Republicans to make headway on a deal.

But even as the two sides dance around possible changes to how federal immigration agents operate, there is growing unease among some Democrats in both chambers about providing any new funding for immigration enforcement agencies, according to two people granted anonymity to describe private conversations.

DHS already has $170 billion to pay for an expansion of the nation’s border enforcement and deportation infrastructure, thanks to the party-line domestic policy and tax legislation Republicans rammed through last summer.

Democrats, for now, believe they have the political upper hand. They are being encouraged by a memo circulated Wednesday from the left-leaning immigration advocacy organization FWD.us, which argues that voters have an increasingly negative view of Trump’s immigration agenda and do not support more funds for immigration agencies — as an estimated $150 billion from the GOP megabill remains unspent.

The memo also highlights a nationwide survey from Democratic polling firm GBAO of 1,000 registered voters, released Feb. 11, that found that 52 percent of respondents want changes to how immigration agencies operate before funding DHS. And roughly three-in-five voters do not want to spend any additional money on ICE.

“A lot of Democrats I talk to, they say, ‘the public doesn’t want us to give them more money. They have $150 billion, which is totally unprecedented,’” said one of the people granted anonymity to speak candidly. “‘This is on them. We’ll come back in the fall.’”

The DHS appropriations bill proposes an additional $64.4 billion in funding for DHS, including $10 billion for ICE.

The second person familiar with Democrats’ thinking said there’s little chance that Democrats and the White House can agree on meaningful “reforms.” The key, the person said, “is the money.”

If last week offered hints of good-faith discussions, this week suggests the negotiations have stalled: Democrats and the White House have exchanged proposals, but neither side appears willing to budge on core sticking points — including requirements for judicial warrants and a proposed ban on face coverings for federal immigration agents.

“We hope [Democrats] get serious very soon because Americans are going to be impacted by this,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week.

The stalemate foreshadows what could be a weekslong logjam. And it all but guarantees Trump will deliver his State of the Union address before Congress next week without a solution to fund the agency, which is at the center of Democrats’ outrage over his aggressive immigration agenda and the killing of two American citizens by federal agents in Minnesota last month.

But Democrats are also aware of the potential political pitfalls in allowing a DHS shutdown to drag on.

TSA is viewed as the greatest pressure point for the left. Airport security screeners won’t miss their first paycheck until mid-March, but if this happens, many may stop showing up to work — causing lines to grow in major hubs across the country, potentially during the peak of spring break travel season.

The White House is facing its own pressure from immigration hawks, who believe the administration’s decision to withdraw federal agents from Minnesota allows Trump officials to avoid caving to major Democratic demands for an overhaul. The administration has said little publicly about areas in which it’s willing to negotiate, but has made clear that Democrats’ push to require judicial rather than administrative warrants is a red line.

“They’ve already recalibrated. I haven’t seen any more flashy operations going in any cities right now,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that works to restrict immigration.

She described some of the Democrats’ requests, including a prohibition on face coverings, as “unreasonable” and said there are few demands she can see the administration conceding to unless narrowed to “very specific circumstances.”

The White House, for its part, has already focused its message on political vulnerabilities, pointing to FEMA, the Coast Guard and TSA as agencies that will be harmed because Democrats have “chosen to act against the American people for political reasons.”

“Now we have FEMA workers, the men and women of the United States Coast Guard, men and women of TSA, who keep our airports moving, who will be working without paychecks for no good reason other than the Democrats wanting to pick a fight with Donald Trump,” Leavitt said Wednesday. “And the president thinks that's irresponsible and despicable. He wants the government to be open.”

Democrats are already discussing ways to flip the script on Republicans, with lawmakers expected to push bills like one sponsored by the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, which would fund all DHS agencies aside from ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. Democrats will also try to focus their message on how much money DHS received from the GOP megabill last year, as well as the department’s flexibility with those funds.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries previewed this strategy Wednesday, standing in front of a poster board that read “Trump’s big ugly bill cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and gave $75 billion to ICE.”

He also told reporters that if there’s little movement this week, Democrats will begin to explore options for funding other agencies outside of ICE and CBP when Congress returns on Monday.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.