The movement among Senate Democrats to block funding for ICE by not advancing the budget bill for the Department of Homeland Security has grown before. ICE agents shot and killed another innocent American, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis.
Senate Democrats will do what Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recommended by blocking the budget bill that would fund ICE.
Change was afoot when one of the Democrats who voted to reopen the government released a statement after the Trump administration’s latest killing in Minneapolis.
Senator 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. Nobody wants criminals in our country, but they are not the ones this administration is going after. They target law-abiding immigrants who simply want to provide for their families and live the American dream. They target immigrants who have been granted asylum or other forms of legal protection to settle in our country. They are preying on American citizens who disagree with their tactics – and in less than a month, two of our fellow Americans in Minneapolis have been killed.
Enough is enough. We must rein in ICE’s out-of-control conduct.
As a member of the U.S. Senate, I have a responsibility to hold the Trump administration accountable when I see abuses of power – like we are seeing now with ICE. That’s why I will vote against any government funding package containing the bill that funds this agency, until we have safeguards in place to reduce these abuses of power and ensure more accountability and transparency.
The first step in the process of reining in ICE is to pass a law, 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 not provide any votes for defunding ICE.
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