The movement among Senate Democrats to block funding for ICE by not advancing the budget bill for the Department of Homeland Security was already growing before ICE agents gunned down another innocent American, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Senate Democrats will be doing what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recommended by blocking the budget bill that would fund ICE.
The shift was in motion when one of the Democrats who voted to reopen the government issued a statement after the latest Trump administration murder in Minneapolis.
Sen. Jackie Rosen (D-NV) said:
The abuses of power we are seeing from ICE in Minneapolis and across the country are un-American and cannot be normalized. No one wants criminals in our country, but that’s not who this administration is going after. They’re targeting law-abiding immigrants who just want to support their families and live the American Dream. They’re going after immigrants who have asylum or other forms of legal protections to be in our country. They’re going after U.S. citizens who disagree with their tactics — and in less than a month, two of our fellow Americans in Minneapolis have been killed as a result.
Enough is enough. We need to rein in ICE’s out of control conduct.
As a member of the U.S. Senate, I have the responsibility to hold the Trump Administration accountable when I see abuses of power — like we are seeing from ICE right now. That is why I’ll be voting against any government funding package that contains the bill that funds this agency, until we have guardrails in place to curtail these abuses of power and ensure more accountability and transparency.
The first step in the process to rein in ICE is to pass legislation, because when that legislation becomes law, it gives the courts the power to act if ICE or its agents are found to be breaking the law.
Rosen was just the beginning, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confirmed in a statement that Democrats would be providing no votes for ICE funding.
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