"Absolutely pathetic": The left rages at Dems on ICE
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Rep. Delia Ramirez speaks at a press conference with other Congressional Progressive Caucus members at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 13. Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
House Democrats are facing increasingly frustrated demands from their left flank not to give the Trump administration another inch on ICE funding.
Why it matters: That could mean shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, which is set to run out of cash on Friday unless Congress agrees to a funding stopgap.
- "Shut it down, shut it down, shut it down," Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told Axios, "and maybe, maybe, they'll take us serious and understand that we are unwilling to negotiate some minimal crap."
- "The Democrats have got to be really, really strong about stopping Trump's authoritarianism and reining in ICE," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a phone interview.
- Members of the progressive group MoveOn "haven't budged and neither should Senate Democrats," said spokesperson Britt Jacovich.
State of play: Congress voted last week to pass a bill funding most of the government until September but keeping DHS open only until Feb. 13.
- The short-term DHS measure was meant to give the White House and Democrats time to hammer out a reforms of ICE and Customs and Border Protection following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good.
- But a compromise has not materialized and the two parties appear far apart on the issue, with some Republicans saying they would sooner expand ICE operations than reform the agency.
What we're hearing: More than a half dozen progressive Democratic House candidates expressed frustration to Axios that House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly given Republicans the necessary votes to keep the government funded.
- Analilia Mejia, the presumptive Democratic nominee in New Jersey special election, told Axios: "I think Democrats have leverage, and I urge us to use it to the fullest extent."
- "It's absolutely pathetic how much leverage we forfeit as a party," said Kat Abughazaleh of Illinois. "House Democrats gave up their leverage and with it a critical chance to protect people from DHS and ICE abuse."
- Said Mai Vang of California: "Democratic leadership says they want to keep negotiating. Negotiating what? They just gave away their only power to cut ICE's $175 billion budget."
- "Democrats need to hold the line and not give the Trump administration any space to fund more ICE terror and attacks in our communities," said Junaid Ahmed of Illinois.
Zoom in: For many of these candidates, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also didn't go far enough with their 10 proposed reforms to ICE.
- Mejia said the demands were "a step in the right direction" but "some of these feel like redundant requests. I worry that when we put them forward as demands ... we almost normalize the administration's failure to meet the law."
- Nida Allam of North Carolina told Axios: "More half-solutions and empty promises from the establishment ... When I'm in Washington I'll accept nothing less than abolishing ICE completely."
- Similarly, Nate Blouin of Utah said: "I don't think we can let this continue any longer ... Longer term abolish ICE, shorter term I don't think we can continue any funding opportunities for that department."
What to watch: As of Tuesday evening, DHS appeared to be on the brink of a shutdown, with several of the Democrats who previously voted to fund the government saying they wouldn't do so again without meaningful progress in reform negotiations.
