White House Banks On Homan To Help Avert Shutdown

The White House is counting on Tom Homan to cool temperatures – in Minneapolis and in Washington.

The border czar arrived in Minnesota this week, part of the Trump administration’s attempt to reset the narrative around its increasingly unpopular mass deportations strategy and deescalate tensions after federal officials shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year old ICU nurse.

White House officials hope Homan, an Obama appointee and experienced immigration hand, can mollify Democrats’ concerns over the administration’s aggressive enforcement actions enough to keep the government funded ahead of Friday’s deadline.

But it’s a high-wire act. A White House official said Homan’s efforts to “appease” Democrats are the only arrow left in the quiver. There is no plan B, the official said.

“It’s all wait and see. I think a lot of it is determinative of what Homan comes back with … in terms of reforms,” said the official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking. “If there's enough positive movement on that front, it can get congressional Democrats back to the table and sort of appease some of their concerns.”

For now, that looks to be a tough sell.

Democrats are preparing to oppose a sweeping government funding package unless Republicans agree on new enforcement guardrails, including tightening rules on warrants and prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks. Democratic leadership has already publicly warned that just sending in Homan will not be enough to get them on board with the spending package.

“Let me say that again, so the White House hears it: until ICE is properly reined in and overhauled legislatively, the DHS funding bill doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday.

While Schumer acknowledged that talks among Democrats, Republicans and the White House are ongoing, he said that the administration “has had no specific, concrete ideas.”

The distance between the two sides with just a few days to go before a partial government shut down does not portend well for a last-minute deal.

In addition to masks, Democrats on Wednesday demanded new restrictions on DHS officers, including mandates for body cameras and IDs and a “uniform code of conduct and accountability,” including requiring independent investigations of incidents like Saturday’s shooting that killed Pretti.

In response to the demands, a second White House official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, said Trump “is committed to avoiding a shutdown, and to productive dialogue with the Congress,” but the Democrats are making it hard to move forward.

“A demand for agreement on legislative reforms as a condition of funding the Department of Homeland Security with a government funding deadline just 48 hours away is a demand for a partial government shutdown” the official said.

The Senate will vote Thursday on the six-bill package, including DHS funding. Democrats are expected to block it.

Republicans privately believe the White House is open to making changes through executive actions. They are also looking for guidance from the White House on what their next steps should be and believe multiple options are still on the table including the possibility that the administration tells them to leave the DHS bill behind altogether.

Meanwhile, Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday that he’s encouraging dialogue between the administration and Senate Democrats, who he is hoping can find a way to avoid splitting up the six-bill package.

“I think right now the conversation should be between White House and Democrats,” Thune said. “I think the White House honestly is open to negotiation.”

The White House plans to brief Democrats privately on any potential success from Homan’s trip, the official said, to try to convince them to allow the six-bill package, including DHS funding, to pass.

There’s a lot of pressure on Homan to make major progress in Minnesota and the White House is billing the immigration firebrand as a career official who can work with Democrats. Homan called his meetings with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey “a productive starting point,” but hasn’t announced any policy changes.

“There's a reason why the president picked him, it’s because he’s shown even in his past jobs, he's been able to do a lot of good outreach to people on both sides of the aisle,” the White House official said. “I think there's a lot of optimism with him there.”