Democrats reveal ICE reform demands to continue funding Homeland Security

Democratic leaders laid out their terms for continuing to fund Homeland Security on Wednesday, saying the department must severely curb its immigration enforcement and return to Biden-era policies limiting arrests if Congress is to pass a new spending bill.

Topping the list are bans on ICE officers wearing masks to hide their identities, and new rules barring immigration arrests near hospitals, schools, churches, courts, child-care facilities and other “sensitive locations.”

The 10-point list also calls for new limits on use of force, and would explicitly give state and local authorities a veto over “large-scale” immigration operations.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the party’s leaders in the Senate and House, delivered their demands in a letter to GOP leaders, saying changes will have to be included if Congress is to pass a new bill funding Homeland Security for the rest of fiscal 2026.

“The American people rightfully expect their elected representatives to take action to rein in ICE and ensure no more lives are lost. It is critical that we come together to impose common sense reforms and accountability measures that the American people are demanding,” they said.

The lawmakers, in their letter, also said they want to see an end to the current enforcement surge in Minnesota and to see President Trump boot Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — though those weren’t part of the 10-point list.

The demands would largely neuter Mr. Trump’s plans for mass deportations.

Giving state and local authorities a veto over large operations would hinder action in most Democrat-led jurisdictions, as would a proposal to give states the right to sue U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over how it runs detention facilities inside their boundaries.

The ban on sensitive locations — which would revive a Biden-era policy much reviled by immigration officers — would also turn large swaths of urban areas into no-go zones for ICE.

A proposed ban on DHS officers using race, language or presence at a particular location as justification for immigration stops would also overturn decades of practice, and reverse a Supreme Court ruling last year.

Other proposals are less controversial.

Mr. Schumer and Mr. Jeffries called for body-worn cameras to be deployed with DHS law enforcement, which Ms. Noem has already declared a goal. But the Democrats added a caveat, saying the cameras cannot be used to create databases tracking anti-ICE protesters.

It’s not clear what President Trump’s appetite will be for change.

In an interview this week with NBC News, he seemed open to some alterations.

“Maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough,” he said.

Congress was poised to pass a new DHS funding bill late last month. Leaders of both parties had struck a deal and the bill cleared the House and was awaiting Senate action.

Then came a second slaying of a U.S. citizen at DHS hands, when Alex Pretti was shot by Customs and Border Protection personnel.

Democrats labeled the shooting a murder and, buoyed by growing public outrage, led a filibuster of the DHS spending bill in the Senate.

After some negotiations, Congress approved spending bills for other parts of the government and gave DHS a two-week lease, operating on 2024 levels of funding.

Some Democrats have called for nothing short of defunding ICE. 

Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Schumer stopped short of that, though their list would largely defang the agency’s immigration enforcement, enshrining in law new restrictions that would return it to the feeble efforts of the previous administration.