US Senate Democrats block Homeland Security funding bill ahead of weekend deadline

​​​​​​​By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Democrats in the US Senate blocked a bill Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they demand significant immigration enforcement reforms ahead of a critical deadline.

The vote to advance the bill, which would fund DHS through September, failed 52-47. It required 60 votes to advance. Sen. John Fetterman was the sole Democrat to vote in favor.

DHS and its constituent agencies employ more than 260,000 workers across the US, and funding is set to lapse Saturday if an agreement is not reached. Without funding, many of those deemed essential will be forced to work without pay, or furloughed, while others will be told to stay home.

A total of 16 agencies fall under DHS, including the Coast Guard, FEMA and the US Secret Service. Two of the agencies that have stoked Democratic furor amid President Donald Trump's migrant crackdown -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) -- are unlikely to suffer any major operational effects from a partial shutdown.

Both agencies received tens of billions of dollars in new funding under the president's signature spending bill last summer.

Still, Democrats have sought to leverage the wider funding package to gain concessions from the administration on immigration enforcement tactics and policies following the fatal shootings of two Americans in the state of Minnesota last month.

"Cameras on. Masks off. We need a complete overhaul of ICE. Federal agents are terrorizing our communities, shooting Americans in the street, arresting children, tossing people in unmarked vans without any due process," Sen. John Hickenlooper said in a video posted to US social media platform X.

"We need a top-to-bottom restructuring of ICE to stop this insanity and lawlessness," he added.

Demonstrations in the flashpoint cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul escalated and spread nationwide following the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, by immigration officers on Jan. 24, and the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.

Amid the funding fight, Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, announced Thursday that the president's immigration surge in the Twin Cities would soon come to an end.

"I have proposed and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude. A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week," Homan told reporters in Minnesota.