The Customs and Border Protection shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis could cause Washington to shut the government down for the second time in three months.
Senate Democrats signaled over the weekend that they would not vote for a bill that would fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, which contains funding for the Department of Homeland Security. CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — whose agents were involved in the shooting of Renee Good — both fall under the DHS umbrella.
“After their son was killed in broad daylight, they are now forced to defend him against this administration’s lies,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on X. “It’s another reason why Senate Democrats are united in rejecting this DHS spending bill.”
The House of Representatives already voted on spending bills before adjourning ahead of a major snowstorm descending on the capital. The House is not likely to return in time to avert a partial shutdown should the Senate somehow reach a deal, Punchbowl News reported.
“The Trump Administration and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said in a statement on Saturday.
“They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement,” she added. “This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it’s brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants.”
It’s unclear exactly how a shutdown would impact CBP and ICE. Much of the president’s immigration agenda was funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, funding that would not be interrupted by a shutdown.
Last year, the United States faced the largest federal government shutdown in history for 43 days over a debate regarding Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Aside from the looming shutdown, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) is requesting testimony from CBP, ICE, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over “border security and immigration enforcement” in hearings either in February or March, according to letters sent by the congressman on Saturday.
In Minnesota, Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge has led to thousands of arrests of people in the country illegally, but it’s also led to serious clashes with anti-ICE protests in the region — and staunch opposition from Democrats in the state.
“They think they can provoke us into abandoning our values. They are wrong. We will keep the peace. We will secure justice for our neighbors. And we will see this occupation end,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) posted to X on Saturday night.
The Trump administration has stated that Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey need to tone down the rhetoric in the state.
“The Minnesota governor and the Minneapolis mayor need to take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Noem said at a Saturday press conference. “They need to evaluate their rhetoric, their conversations, and their encouragement of such violence against our citizens and our law enforcement officers.”
