Senate Majority Leader John Thune said most of Democrats’ 10-point list of demands for curtailing the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations are “very unrealistic and unserious.”
Passing the fiscal 2026 Department of Homeland Security spending bill that Democrats have taken hostage to secure those changes is “not even in the realm of possibility” because they’re not even negotiating, the South Dakota Republican said in a floor speech Thursday.
Mr. Thune separately told reporters that Republicans are likely to file another stopgap funding measure for DHS early next week since the current one expires Feb. 13. Whether that is a short-term stopgap or one running through the remainder of the fiscal year will depend on whether Democrats participate in serious negotiations, he said.
“It seems like they are posturing themselves in such a way that would make any sort of middle ground virtually impossible to find, at least right now,” Mr. Thune said. “What they were doing might have been somewhat designed to appease the special interest groups on their side, the initial list that they put out. But I think there’s some room in there to negotiate.”
Democrats’ demands include requiring immigration enforcement agents to have a judicial warrant to enter private property, stop racial profiling, wear body cameras and display a unique ID number and last name on a standardized uniform. They also want to ban agents from wearing masks to hide their identities.
“Americans already support our ideas,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said. “They’re not extreme. They mirror the same standards that law enforcement around the country already follow.”
The Democrats’ demands go beyond typical law enforcement policies and include new rules barring immigration arrests near hospitals, schools, churches, courts, child care facilities and other “sensitive locations.”
They also want to require local authorities to approve any “large-scale” immigration operations and be able to investigate any use-of-force incidents.
Mr. Schumer said Republicans’ immediate rejection of their proposals was “totally predictable,” arguing they do not want ICE to have any accountability.
“If Republicans don’t like our proposals, pouting is not enough,” he said. “They need to explain why to the American people because they don’t have a good explanation.”
