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House and Senate Democratic leaders are united on most core principles. And in a role reversal, House Leader Hakeem Jeffries is taking a harder line than Schumer. At a press conference this morning, Jeffries called for explicit requirements for independent investigations of ICE excesses that go beyond Schumer’s version. Jeffries also refused to commit that House Democrats would deliver DHS funding in two weeks, saying that the details remained to be evaluated.
And in a remarkable alliance of the left and the center, the leaders of House Congressional Progressive Caucus and the House New Democrat Coalition, Reps. Greg Casar of Texas and Brad Schneider of Illinois, jointly released a list of demands as their conditions for supporting DHS funding. The demands went well beyond both Schumer and Jeffries, and evidently contributed to the stiffening of Jeffries’s spine.
The list included:
1. Ensure ICE and CBP immediately leave Minneapolis and stop terrorizing American cities and communities;
2. End arrests without judicial warrants and, outside of exigent circumstances, arrests at sensitive locations such as churches, shelters, schools, and courthouses;
3. Ensure full, independent, and transparent investigations into all DHS-related shootings, including federal cooperation with state and local investigations, and ensure that federal agents are properly trained, appropriately supervised, and held fully accountable for their actions;
4. End the detention and deportation of U.S. citizens;
5. End the anonymity of federal agents by requiring them to remove their masks and provide identification;
6. Ensure robust minimum standards of care at detention facilities—including access to medical care, clean water, and edible food, and protections against abuse—and ensure independent investigations of deaths.
In addition, the two explicitly called for the removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Jeffries and Schumer have as well, but the list of demands should help keep the pressure on the leaders to hold out for the strongest possible restraints.
With the House currently out of session, the soonest that the package can pass is Monday. That means there will be a brief weekend shutdown, even if the Senate completes its work as expected. That’s enough time to demand and get Republican commitments in writing on basic principles, rather than just punting for two weeks.
Republicans are finally on the defensive over the gross excesses of ICE, and deservedly so. This is a time for Democrats to press their advantage, not to seek polite compromises.
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