Earlier today, the Free Press offered its conclusion that Donald Trump has won the immigration standoff in Minnesota. You know who else thinks Donald Trump has won? House Democrats. And they want Chuck Schumer's scalp for it. Again.
When word first broke last week that the Senate had brokered a deal for funding the Department of Homeland Security, I advised readers to "pass the popcorn." Democrats who demanded the complete defunding of ICE after the Alex Pretti shooting just a few days earlier would have to reckon with the radicals who demanded they stick to that objective. Now they want Schumer's scalp for forcing them to defend the funding, Axios reports:
House Democrats found themselves in the familiar position this week of seething at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for negotiating a deal with Republicans to keep the government funded.
Why it matters: While his caucus remains behind him, Schumer is becoming persona non grata for much of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
- "I'm gonna continue to tell you that Schumer needs to get the hell out over and over and over until he does," Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told Axios.
- "He continues to demonstrate to us that he can't meet the moment," she added.
- Another House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer insights into private conversations among lawmakers, told Axios: "The main feeling among members is a lack of trust in his strength and ability to strike a hard bargain."
Some of this amounts to a work-the-refs strategy. Republicans and Democrats have less than two weeks to hammer out a deal on DHS funding for the rest of the fiscal year, thanks to the terms of the CR passed this weekend and signed by Trump. Democrats want a host of concessions, including a limitation on arrests for judicial warrants only, rather than the administrative warrants that usually suffice for immigration enforcement. Republicans have signaled agreement on other concessions, and Secretary Kristi Noem has already embraced Democrats' demands to make body cams a requirement for immigration enforcement personnel. The warrant issue is likely a step too far, though, as it will make immigration enforcement nearly impossible, which is precisely what Democrats want.
That's why they haven't even made a good-faith offer yet in the new negotiations:
With eight days to avert a Department of Homeland Security shutdown, serious negotiations have yet to begin, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday.
The South Dakota Republican said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who is leading the talks for Republicans, has reached out to Democrats for a sitdown but has gotten “crickets” so far in response.
Britt publicly slammed a Democratic offer released Wednesday night as a “a ridiculous Christmas list of demands for the press,” while Thune also pooh-poohed the proposal from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“There are a few things that there’s probably some room to negotiate on,” Thune said about the 10-item list. “But a lot of that stuff obviously just wasn’t serious.”
Much of the anger, though, is the legitimate outcome of the bait-and-switch radicals got from Democrat leadership. Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and other Capitol Hill Democrat leaders grabbed microphones and shrieked outrage over ICE enforcement even before the two shootings in Minneapolis. They worked up their base and promised a big fight over funding DHS as a way to force an end to enforcement operations. Schumer, Jeffries, et al made the mistake of setting expectations far too high while having next to no leverage in this fight. And now Democrats will pay the price for it, especially when they have to scale back those demands when the deadline looms.
Why don't they have leverage? First off, DHS has a separate fund with $75 billion for enforcement operations from the One Big Beautiful Bill, which has already been appropriated and can be spent at any time over the next three-plus years. The annual ICE budget for this year was $28 billion, half of which has already been appropriated at this point. Congress can't shut down ICE via the power of the purse until at least 2028.
Second: With that in mind, the only impact the holdout will have will be on other DHS operations. That includes FEMA, which is active in areas impacted by the severe winter storm last month, not to mention new and ongoing emergencies in the states. Another DHS shutdown would freeze TSA, and that would shut down air travel again, which happened during Schumer Shutdown I. DHS also runs the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and so on. Congress created the DHS monstrosity in 2006, and by doing so, left itself unable to separate these functions for the purpose of targeted funding or targeted defunding.
That is precisely why 21 House Democrats voted for the deal this week that kept DHS open for two weeks while negotiations took place. Their constituents will eat them alive if they lose those services again, especially for another no-win standoff. Maybe Schumer will finally realize that he is getting led by the nose into just about the worst possible choices in these funding fights, especially when voters still want immigration laws enforced and illegal aliens deported. He's taking a long time to figure it out, though, and even longer to right-size expectations.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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