WASHINGTON – Congress and the White House are locked in negotiations over potential reforms to the Department of Homeland Security as a deadline to shut down the agency approaches by the end of the week.
Lawmakers have until Friday, Feb. 13, to reach an agreement or risk jeopardizing funding for the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard, among other divisions of the 9/11-era Cabinet agency that could be impacted by yet another lapse in appropriations.
Unlike during the record-breaking government shutdown last fall, Trump administration officials have been engaged in the last few weeks in serious talks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The ongoing discussions reflect a bipartisan unease over the tactics of federal agents in President Trump's nationwide immigration enforcement surge, especially since 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti's killing by Border Patrol agents in Minnesota last month.
Read more: The shutdown is over. Now a race is on to reform Trump's ICE.
Last week, House and Senate Democrats released a list of 10 demands to curb DHS, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Customs and Border Protection, or CBP. Those wishes included a ban on mask-wearing for federal agents, stricter use-of-force standards and prohibiting immigration enforcement operations in "sensitive locations" such as schools and churches.
