House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on Wednesday that he would reject a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the fiscal year over concerns that it did not sufficiently curb Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
The announcement came in a closed-door meeting with Democratic caucus members, following continued ICE violence in Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge.
“We’ve heard our members speak loudly that ICE isn’t doing enough, these reforms aren’t doing enough. This lawlessness has to stop,” Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) told reporters after the meeting on Wednesday. “They are only doing this because they can. They are only doing this because the president of the United States wants to use them to terrorize communities, to terrorize U.S. citizens.”
But, according to NBC News, Democratic leaders did not state they would whip a vote to push all members to follow their “no” vote. This leaves the door open for Democrats, many of whom are facing close elections this year, to vote in favor of the appropriation bill.
ICE cannot be reformed.
The pool of “talent” from which ICE hires is comprised entirely of the sort of people who would willingly apply to join ICE.
Democrats are okay with fascism, that’s all I see.
Not all, but I feel like Hakeem Jeffries being on the right side of this is just controlled opposition to make the Democrats look slightly less feckless on this issue.
This is exactly what it is if they don’t get the votes. Edit: aaand 7 dems provided cover for the leadership.
They’re okay with what their constituents are okay with.
By constituents, I mean donors.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), a conservative who participated in negotiations with Republicans on the legislation as the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, voiced support for the bill in the meeting,
A conservative Democrat huh? Well don’t know much about this guy, but already having a hard time believing a conservative running as a Democrat is somebody I should trust to have anyone’s interest in mind but his own. I wonder what are some other tidbits about him that might be relevant?
Jan 2026: Congressman Henry Cuellar expresses support for U.S. military action in Venezuela
Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to judge a conservative Democrat who has every incentive to help Trump overthrow democracy, and it’s actually me who’s been wrong this whole time for supporting democracy. 🤷♀️
Or you know, fuck this guy, fuck Trump, and fuck all of his fascist enablers.
Fuck Henry Cuellar, he votes with Trump 95% of the time.
Fun story: when he first ran, it was against a very promising young progressive woman Jessica Cisneros who was intent on stopping the border wall disaster in her district, among many other progressive priorities.
Nancy Pelosi decided since Cuellar was more corpo friendly she would back him instead, and dumped millions of DNC money into his campaign so he could eke out a narrow win. Completely rat-fucked the primary, to basically elect a DINO Republican.
I’m not voting for anyone who isn’t for defunding, or ideally, abolishing ice. Fuck any other issues, this is the most important thing right now.
I’m not voting for anyone who isn’t demanding justice. I’m so sick of the 2 tiered justice system. Put the traitors and rapists in jail, it shouldn’t be something we have to beg for.
The bill maintains funding for ICE at $10 billion. Still, it includes some guardrails, including allocating $20 million of the budget to body cameras for ICE and CBP officers, and reducing $115 million from ICE enforcement and removal operations. It also cuts Border Patrol funding by $1.8 billion and provides $20 million for mandated, independent oversight of detention facilities
According to House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the bill doesn’t include “broader reforms proposed by Democrats, including preventing U.S. citizens from being detained or deported and preventing non-ICE personnel from conducting interior enforcement.”
DeLauro acknowledged the bill would frustrate many Democratic lawmakers, but said it was necessary to fund numerous agencies, such as FEMA, the US Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. She also noted that ICE received $75 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so if no appropriations legislation passed, ICE would still be able to function for years while other agencies would struggle.
But, according to NBC News, Democratic leaders did not state they would whip a vote to push all members to follow their “no” vote. This leaves the door open for Democrats, many of whom are facing close elections this year, to vote in favor of the appropriation bill.
Democracy is hemorrhaging, and these fucks are worried about elections and funding other agencies. They need to bring congress to a halt. They need to stop this madness. Do whatever is possible, by any means necessary, to disrupt DHS. This is terrorism, and they want to focus on their narrow elections? If they actually get something done, they will get their blue wave, in spades. What would motivate the base more than getting results? Get these traitors off of our streets.
We should remember, though, that the democrats are perfectly happy carrying on the mission of ICE and CBP. They just want it out of the media so they can focus on selling us out even more.
Agreed, abolish ICE first and foremost then we can move onto something less important.
Are the democrats complete morons?
is this rhetorical, or…?
Mostly.
They’ve got Bernie, who’s awesome. But other than that… I thoroughly do not understand.
As Dems so often love to point out, Bernie is technically an Independent.
Then they all should be because their party is the worst run thing I’ve ever seen.
and I’ve watched the Conservative Party of Canada throw a 20 point lead last year.
Democrats are by and large Capitalists. Republicans are Capitalists. We have two Capitalist parties with ever so slightly different goals, none of which benefits us. Bernie is basically center. Once you understand Capitalism and how it must function and continually grow, you understand Democrats. They do not represent us.
No, they’re just a different flavor of Republican.
Worse, they are controlled opposition
Lmao but tHe MidTeErMs bro
They are complices
Democrats colabos
As in france and everywhere, they always finish to cooperate with far right
Democratic leaders did not state they would whip a vote to push all members to follow their “no” vote.
It doesn’t matter if they try even…
Neoliberal control for the last decade was predicated on the “victory fund” and their willingness to cut off funding to an entire state party if reps from that state didn’t vote how they wanted.
Martin immediately started giving those funds back, and we’ve been in the largest reinvestment from the DNC to state parties for almost a year straight.
Shcumer and Jeffries are completely toothless, and I think we’ll see both of them start claiming they agree with progressives more now. Not because they agree with it or anything, they just know they’re powerless to obstruct it anymore, and would rather keep up the appearance that they matter so lobbyists keep bribing them.
