'The American People Deserve It': Democrats Reveal Their 3 Demands to Avoid a Shutdown

Senate Democrats on Wednesday revealed a set of demands to overhaul U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tying the changes to a must-pass spending bill as Congress raced toward a partial government shutdown that could begin early Saturday. After a closed-door caucus meeting, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said his party had coalesced around three legislative objectives that they say are necessary to rein in ICE, which they accuse of operating with little accountability under President Donald Trump. Those demands include tightening ICE’s warrant requirements, introducing a uniformed code of conduct for its agents, and requiring all ICE agents be unmasked and with operating body cameras, he said. “We want to end roving patrols,” Schumer said, laying out Democrats’ first demand. “We need to tighten the rules governing the use of warrants and require ICE coordination with state and local law enforcement.” Second, he said, Democrats want to “enforce accountability,” including a uniform federal code of conduct and independent investigations into alleged abuses. Federal agents, he argued, should be held to the same use-of-force standards as local police and face consequences when they violate them. Third, Schumer said, Democrats are demanding “masks off, body cameras on,” a reference to proposals that would bar agents from wearing face coverings, require they wear body cameras and mandate that agents carry visible identification. “No more anonymous agents, no more secret operatives,” he said. “These are common-sense reforms, ones that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,” Schumer added. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order.” The Democratic push follows the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by a federal immigration agent last weekend—the second such killing in the city this month—which has inflamed tensions in a divided Congress as the Senate confronts a Friday night deadline to fund much of the federal government.  While Democrats say they are prepared to pass five of the six remaining appropriations bills before the Senate, they are insisting that the Department of Homeland Security funding measure be separated out or rewritten to include statutory limits on ICE.