❓WHAT HAPPENED: Democrats outlined demands for changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations as Congress works to avoid a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and other Democrats; House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); and the Trump administration.
📍WHEN & WHERE: February 4, 2026, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
💬KEY QUOTE: “When Americans see the pictures of these goons beating people, pushing people, and even shooting and killing people, they say this is not America… It is reminiscent of dictatorship.” — Chuck Schumer
🎯IMPACT: The debate over DHS funding and changes could lead to a shutdown, affecting sub-agencies such as FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard.
Democrat lawmakers on Capitol Hill released their list of demands for changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in exchange for the passage of long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had their budgets largely appropriated in separate legislation over the summer, other DHS agencies like FEMA and the TSA remain unfunded for the fiscal year.
The looming DHS shutdown, set for February 13, is the result of Democrats demanding that the department’s budget be stripped from a package of appropriations bills adopted by Congress on Tuesday. By forcing the removal of DHS funding—replacing it with a two-week continuing resolution—the Democrats caused a brief government shutdown over the weekend but dropped their opposition to the larger appropriations package.
Democrats are now holding up a full-year appropriations bill until Republicans agree to their proposed immigration enforcement changes, which include mandatory body cameras, prohibiting immigration officers from wearing masks, tightening restrictions around warrants, and ending so-called “roving” patrols.
“When Americans see the pictures of these goons beating people, pushing people, and even shooting and killing people, they say this is not America,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, joined by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and a number of House and Senate Democrats. Schumer added, “It is reminiscent of dictatorship.”
The Democrat demands have already sparked opposition from Republicans. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) has already declared that requiring judicial warrants, rather than administrative warrants, for immigration enforcement actions is dead on arrival. “That is a road that we cannot or should not go down,” Johnson said.
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