WASHINGTON ― Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) expressed regret for voting to fund the Department of Homeland Security after the latest fatal shooting by a federal immigration agent in Minnesota.
“I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” Suozzi said in a social media post on Monday. “I hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior and I must do a better job demonstrating that.”
The New York Democrat joined six other Democratic lawmakers in helping pass a funding bill last week that included $10 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $18 billion for Customs and Border Protection. It did not include any restraints on ICE’s often-violent tactics in Minnesota and elsewhere, as scores of Democrats had demanded.
The killing of Alex Pretti by a Customs and Border Protection agent in Minneapolis on Saturday, however, has galvanized Democrats against the funding bill en masse, with Democratic senators threatening a partial government shutdown later this week unless the Trump administration changes course. The shooting has even disturbed some Republicans, who broke with the Trump administration by denouncing Pretti’s killing and calling for an investigation.
