As RedState previously reported, numerous Senate Democrats have announced that they would not support the funding bill for DHS that is a part of the current appropriations package unless what they feel are significant changes to the bill are made.
The number of those not on board with supporting the bill in its current form increased over the weekend in the aftermath of the Border Patrol shooting incident on Saturday, which left Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti dead.
Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for instance, stated after the shooting that “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.”
He went on to declare that “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
READ MORE: Schumer, Dems Ramp Things Up With Ugly Move on DHS Funding Bill After Border Patrol Shooting
Though Schumer wants the DHS part of the funding package yanked, Republicans are saying no to that as well as to any changes that Democrats want to make.
And on Tuesday, we learned that Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has set up a test vote for Thursday:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday teed up a key test vote for the six-bill package for Thursday. The move allows Senate Republicans time to hash out a deal with Senate Democrats, who are demanding several restrictions on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Republicans are eager to find a middle ground that doesn’t involve modifying the current funding package, given that doing so would almost guarantee a government shutdown and jeopardize funding to several other federal agencies, including the Pentagon.
But Democrats aren’t willing to budge, for now, until the DHS bill is stripped and sidelined.
Among the restrictions Democrats reportedly want put on DHS is a big one, which is not going to fly with most Senate Republicans and certainly not with President Trump:
If reports are true that Dems are demanding judicial warrants for all ICE arrests as part of DHS funding bill, that will take a massive amount of targets off the board for ICE. They would only be able to go after illegal immigrants who have committed a new *federal* crime *after* entering the U.S. illegally.
State & local crimes would not apply. (Feds don’t enforce state & local).
For instance, if an illegal immigrant gets arrested in Minnesota for a DUI crash causing great bodily injury (state crime) and bonds out of jail, ICE would not be able to target him for arrest because there would be no judicial warrant (not a federal crime).
ICE would not be able to target anyone for just being in the U.S. illegally. They would have to wait for a federal crime to be committed, then a federal judge would have to sign off on probable cause for arrest.
It would cripple any hopes of “mass deportations” or widespread immigration enforcement.
If reports are true that Dems are demanding judicial warrants for all ICE arrests as part of DHS funding bill, that will take a massive amount of targets off the board for ICE. They would only be able to go after illegal immigrants who have committed a new *federal* crime *after*…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 28, 2026
The deadline to avoid a partial shutdown is January 30th.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left’s lies, new legislation wasn’t needed to secure our border, just a new president.
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