House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) refused to pressure members of his caucus to oppose the bill, even though voters clearly oppose federal operations marked by violence and lawlessness by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents everywhere from California and Illinois to Minnesota and Maine.
Jeffries and other Democratic leaders have faced mounting public pressure to use a rapidly approaching deadline — if Congress doesn’t pass legislation by Jan. 30, the federal government will shut down again — to freeze ICE funding. The House bill introduced Thursday would give ICE $10 billion and CBP $18.3 billion.
“I just voted no to give ICE a penny.” Announce Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who is part of the progressive contingent. “Congress should not fund an agency that has terrorized our communities, kidnapped our neighbors, and killed people in the streets with impunity. We must abolish ICE and end qualified immunity for ICE agents now.”
Two weeks ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot Renee Judd, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three, in the Twin Cities, where President Donald Trump had sent thousands of federal agents. Videos, eyewitness accounts, analyzes of the shooting and an independent autopsy have increased calls for Ross’s arrest and prosecution.
Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose district includes Minneapolis, He said Before the vote: “Deporting children with cancer. Using a 5-year-old as bait. Shooting mothers. ICE is beyond reform. And today the House votes to fund more terrorism. Hell no.”
Another member of the team, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), He said: “The Department of Homeland Security is using our tax dollars to terrorize our neighbors and detain 5-year-olds. It’s shameful. ICE should be abolished. Kristi Noem should be impeached. Not one more penny should go to this rogue agency.”
The entire Congressional Progressive Caucus bidder Invoice. CPC Chairman Greg Casar (D-Texas) He said In a video posted on social media after the vote, he said, “This mass deportation machine is out of control: detaining and deporting American citizens and veterans, detaining young children, tearing apart families, and killing innocent people. It must stop.”
“Our taxpayer dollars don’t have to end up in Donald Trump’s out-of-control mass deportation machine,” Casar added. “We should send it to our schools and child care centers, and to lower the cost of living for ordinary people.”
“Americans want lower health care and costs, not masked ICE agents kidnapping children from playgrounds and schools,” Brett Jackovich, a spokesman for MoveOn Civic Action, said in a statement Thursday. “The House just failed its latest test to hold Trump and his dangerous street gang ICE accountable for killing innocent people like Renee Nicole Judd and so many others. Senate Democrats need to step up for the American people and block any funding bill that gives another dime to ICE for kidnapping.” 5-year-old children and killing citizens.
Likewise, Kate Voigt, senior policy counsel at the ACLU — who has been involved in several lawsuits over recent Department of Homeland Security operations — He stressed “The House vote in favor of excessive funding for ICE with no meaningful accountability measures is a far cry from polls showing that a majority of voters oppose ICE and Border Patrol attacks on our communities.”
She continued: “The bill fails to rein in ICE and Border Patrol at a time when they are engaging in an unprecedented assault on our rights, safety, and democratic way of life.” “The billions in funding in this bill will only embolden ICE and CBP to continue detaining our neighbors — immigrants and American citizens alike — regardless of the costs to our communities, our economy, and the integrity of our Constitution.
“While the House narrowly passed this bill, we thank the members of Congress who stood up and voted against this harmful legislation,” Voigt added. “Now we need our senators to stand firm and refuse to be complicit in fueling ICE’s reckless abuses in our communities.”
“The House had the opportunity to impose meaningful restrictions on ICE but failed. While the regime terrorizes our communities with masked federal agents and unchecked violence, Congress quietly stood up and passed a DHS funding bill that continues to funnel taxpayer money into ICE’s slush fund,” Indivisible stressed.
“Passing this bill without any serious oversight of this lawless agency is beyond the pale,” Indisable added. “In a monumental failure of leadership, House Democratic ‘leaders’ personally opposed the bill while refusing to attack it.”
The DHS legislation advanced alongside an appropriations package of three bills, which passed by a vote of 341-88. according to the hill: “The House will combine the four bills with the two-bill minibus it passed last week and send the full package to the Senate. The Senate is expected to consider the bills when it returns from recess next week before the Jan. 30 deadline.”
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