"The lawless, reckless people who are marauding bands wild on our street — to hell with that," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital, referring to the agents carrying out President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"I don’t think there should be any deals so long as Kristi Noem heads that department," said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
"Fire her — then (they) can have my vote."
In the wake of two deadly confrontations between border enforcement and civilians in Minnesota in January, Democrats are demanding stronger warrant requirements, a ban on agents in masks, a ban against racial profiling, an end to paramilitary police and more before funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which operates under DHS.
Republicans have balked at those demands, arguing they would handcuff the agency’s operations.
But even amid those tensions, DeLauro believes Democrats — and Republicans — can find common ground to shield unrelated agencies from suffering the fallout if lawmakers can’t come to an agreement by Friday.
Until then, DHS is running off a two-week spending extension lawmakers agreed to when this same issue threatened a larger, $1.2 trillion spending package earlier in February.
When the impasse over ICE looked poised to tank the bill, lawmakers split off non-DHS funding to shrink the scope of the disagreement. DeLauro believes Congress should do that again now.
"We are strongly supportive of TSA, of the Coast Guard, of FEMA, of cybersecurity, of the Secret Service, and we applaud what they do," DeLauro said, listing more services that could be affected.
"We are not for what ICE and CBP are doing. We are going to be supportive of the other agencies."
Other Democrats, especially moderates, agreed with DeLauro.
"Sounds reasonable," Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., said of her idea. "I don’t think anybody likes shutdowns — certainly not the Coast Guard, certainly not TSA."
THUNE BLASTS JEFFRIES, SCHUMER AS 'AFRAID OF THEIR SHADOWS' AS DHS FUNDING FIGHT HEATS UP
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, pictured alongside Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., right. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
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"We don't look at the moment that we're in as exercising leverage over the other side," Jeffries said at a press conference. "We want to fund the government in a manner that actually promotes the health, the safety and the economic well-being of the American people."
"The ball is in the Republicans' court right now. We sent over a proposal," Jeffries said, referring to the 10 demands Democrats had made. "We've given them legislative language as it relates to the types of dramatic reforms of DHS that the American people are demanding, and we've heard nothing but crickets from the other side."
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-split-shielding-coast-guard-secret-service-dhs-shutdown-threat-nears