President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, touched down in Minneapolis and has pledged changes, but no stop to ICE operations in the city. Trump himself recently hinted at a desire to de-escalate.
Democrats and White House reach deal to avert shutdown
Senate Democrats reached a deal with Republicans and the White House to avoid a government shutdown and buy time to negotiate new restrictions on immigration agents.
The breakthrough comes just hours after Democrats and some Republicans opposed the measure, demanding new limits on ICE following the shooting of a second US citizen, Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minneapolis last weekend.
The agreement strips out funding for the Department of Homeland Security, allowing Congress to pass the rest of the overall package of bills quickly and avert a partial government shutdown on Saturday.
Under the deal, DHS funding would be extended for two weeks, giving negotiators more time to finalize an agreement on immigration enforcement measures.
Reacting to the deal, President Donald Trump wrote on social media that he hoped “both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was not confident the shutdown could be avoided.
“At this moment, I’m not that confident, to be honest,” Johnson said when asked how confident he was a government shutdown can be avoided.
Democrats block government funding package in Senate as negotiations continue to avert a shutdown
The US Senate has moved closer to forcing a partial government shutdown after Democrats, joined by eight Republicans, blocked a major government funding package.
All 47 Senate Democrats opposed the measure, demanding new limits on ICE following the shooting of a second US citizen, Alex Pretti, by federal agents in Minneapolis last weekend.
They want agents to be forced to remove their masks and identify themselves, obtain warrants for arrests, and wear body cameras.
Thursday’s vote left the bill short of the 60 votes needed to advance, underscoring discomfort among some of President Donald Trump’s Republican allies over recent ICE tactics.
The government could be forced into a partial shutdown starting Saturday if a deal is not reached.
Negotiators from both parties, along with the White House, say they are making progress as the deadline approaches.
“We don’t want a shutdown,” President Donald Trump said as he began a Cabinet meeting Thursday morning.
ICE crackdown an ‘invasion on our democracy,’ Minneapolis mayor says
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called immigration operations that killed two US citizens in confrontations with federal agents an “invasion” of the city’s democratic processes.
“I feel the support from across the entire country, and we recognize that one great American city is experiencing an invasion. That is an invasion on our democracy, on our republic, and on each and every one of us,” he said during a conference of mayors in Washington.
US government shutdown more likely after funding vote fails
Lawmakers in the US Senate rejected a vote on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies.
Senate Democrats have vowed to vote against the bill unless Republicans remove additional funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department.
“The American people support law enforcement. They support border security. They do not support ICE terrorizing our streets and killing American citizens,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said.
US President Donald Trump said shortly before the vote that “we don’t want a shutdown” and that Democrats and Republicans were discussing a possible deal to separate homeland security funding from the rest of the legislation and fund it for a short time.
Ilhan Omar rebukes Trump after insinuation she staged attack on herself
Democratic US House Representative Ilhan Omar criticized President Donald Trump in a TV interview when asked about Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that she had staged a public attack on herself.
Omar was accosted and sprayed with liquid by a man at an event in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
Speaking to ABC, Trump had said: “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
The 43-year-old Muslim lawmaker was reminded in a TV interview of her own comments in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against Trump when she had offered prayers for his well-being and called for “calmness and decency” to prevail.
“Well, the difference between the president and I is that I was raised to be a decent human being and my faith teaches me to have compassion. And he lacks both of those things,” Omar said on CNN.
The 55-year-old man suspected of squirting the unknown substance on Omar has a criminal record and has posted online in support of US President Donald Trump, authorities said on Wednesday. On Thursday, he was charged with assault.
ICE internal guidelines urge agents not to interact with ‘agitators’
The Reuters news agency reports that ICE officers in Minnesota have been directed to avoid engaging with “agitators.”
Reuters was citing internal guidance notes issued to officers in an email following the unrest and the criticism of the past days and weeks.
It also advised agents to target only people with a “criminal nexus,” so anyone with past arrests, charges or convictions.
“DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS,” the email ordered in block caps. “It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing the commands.”
The guidelines also called on agents to move away from the broad and contentious “sweeps” of recent operations.
“We are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history,” it read. “This includes arrests, not just convictions. ALL TARGET MUST HAVE A CRIMINAL NEXUS.”
It said officers could run vehicle license plate checks to see if the registered owner had a criminal history as one factor in deciding whether to detain a suspect.
Under the Trump administration, a Biden-era standard requiring ICE to target only “serious criminals” was rescinded and replaced with one empowering them to arrest people with no criminal record without restrictions.
Democratic Senators threaten to trigger partial government shutdown
Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other US government agencies in a vote later on Thursday unless Republicans and the White House agree to new restrictions on the surge of immigration enforcement.
Senate Democrats laid out a list of demands ahead of a Thursday morning test vote, including that officers be required to remove masks obscuring their faces, identify themselves and obtain judicial warrants for arrests.
Democrats said that if their demands were not met, they were prepared to block the wide-ranging spending bill, which would trigger a partial government shutdown as of midnight Friday.
President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer have been in talks on a potential deal to avert a shutdown, with US media reports late on Wednesday suggesting progress had been made.
Schumer said on Wednesday that Democrats would not provide needed votes until US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “reined in and overhauled.”
The motion needs 60 votes out of 100 to advance in the Senate. Republicans are in the majority with 53 seats, but would require at least some Democratic support to avoid the risk of a filibuster.
Homan hints at drawdown, praises talks, calls for prisons access
Tom Homan also told a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday that meetings with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local leaders had been productive.
President Trump’s top border official indicated that a gradual reduction of the 3,000-strong force of agents deployed in the city was a possibility.
“We can do better,” he said. “We made some significant gains, significant coordination and cooperation, and you’re going to see some massive changes occurring here in this city,” he said.
Homan pushed for more access to Minnesota jails for ICE agency, so its agents can pick up immigrants illegally living in the country when they are released from custody. He said that this would lessen the need for more disruptive street sweeps, seemingly linking the issue to a reduction in deployment numbers.
He did not offer an exact timeline for his stay in Minneapolis or the wider region.
“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” he said.
Protests have erupted in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul after US federal agents shot and killed two people, both US citizens, while randomly stopping people on the street to demand proof of US citizenship or legal residence.
Maine senator says ICE ‘enhanced operations’ have stopped in the state
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican representing the northeastern state of Maine, said on Thursday that immigration officials had ceased their “enhanced operations” in the state.
This follows an enforcement surge and more than 200 arrests since last week.
Collins said she had several direct communications on the matter with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” she said in a statement. “I have been urging Secretary Noem and other in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”
But Collins also noted that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials would “continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years.”
Maine is a fairly rural state of just 1.4 million residents, an estimated 4% of whom are foreign-born, well below the national average.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-border-czar-in-minnesota-to-regain-law-and-order/live-75715522
