Democrats in the U.S. Senate are threatening to trigger a partial government shutdown unless the Trump administration agrees to change how its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conduct their controversial crackdown.
The standoff comes as U.S. President Donald Trump faces growing public pressure to rein in ICE following the shooting deaths of two American citizens in Minneapolis at the hands of federal officers conducting immigration sweeps.
Among the Senate Democrats’ demands: that ICE agents remove their masks, wear identification and body cameras, cease roving patrols and follow similar use-of-force guidelines as local police.
Without the reforms, the Democrats say they’ll block a funding package that’s facing a Senate vote on Thursday.
Failure to pass it would shut off the flow of money to a host of federal departments and programs starting Friday night, forcing what would be the second government shutdown in a matter of months.
Unless Trump reins in ICE, Democrats threaten government shutdown | CBC News