US homeland security department on track for shutdown after funding bill fails in Senate

"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is on course for an official shutdown at midnight after lawmakers left Washington for a long weekend without resolving an impasse over the much-criticized agency's funding. A range of services, including domestic flights and the US Coastguard, could be vulnerable to disruption after the Senate failed on Thursday to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the DHS appropriations bill."

"Driven by the fatal shootings of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federals agents, Democrats demanded radical reforms to how agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which both fall under DHS's remit operate. While agreeing to agents wearing body cameras, Republicans have resisted other proposals, including demands that agents obtain judicial warrants, signed by a judge, before entering private property."

"Chuck Schumer, the Democrats' leader in the Senate, accused the Republicans of choosing chaos. They need to negotiate in good faith, produce legislation that actually reins in ICE and stops the violence, he said on Thursday. Before Thursday's vote, Tom Homan, the US border czar, announced that the administration was winding down Operation Metro Surge and that the number of ICE agents in Minnesota would return to normal levels."

DHS faces an imminent shutdown at midnight after lawmakers left Washington without resolving the agency's funding. The Senate failed to clear the 60-vote threshold to pass the DHS appropriations bill, risking disruptions to services including domestic flights and the US Coast Guard. Democrats blocked funding to protest violent tactics used during a recent immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and demanded radical reforms to how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operate after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Republicans agreed to body cameras for agents but resisted requirements such as judicial warrants before entering private property.

Read at www.theguardian.com