Negotiations to end funding standoff sparked by Trump administration’s immigration crackdown fail to find a breakthrough
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
There was no breakthrough in talk to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday as the shutdown extends to almost six weeks with no end in sight.
Democratic lawmakers demanded new restrictions on federal agents carrying out the president’s deportation crackdown. But Republicans rejected the proposal, offering instead to remove money for immigration enforcement from the homeland security spending bill.
The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, quickly shot down the offer, and said Democrats had countered with a measure that coupled DHS funding with a host of new guardrails on immigration enforcement operations – something the party has insisted on for months.
