As shutdown looms, Democrats unveil demands to address Pretti killing

WASHINGTON – With an increasingly likely partial government shutdown only days away, Senate Democrats outlined three main demands for reforming the Department of Homeland Security, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in the wake of Alex Pretti’s killing.

First, they want President Donald Trump to end sweeping immigration checks known as “roving patrols.” They also demand more accountability for ICE and Border Patrol, including independent investigations and stricter use-of-force standards. Lastly, they want “masks off” officers – and “body cameras on.”

If congressional Republicans and the White House don’t earnestly negotiate over those requests, another funding crisis is imminent, warned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York.

“These are commonsense reforms, ones that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,” he told reporters on Jan. 28. “The White House has had no specific, good, concrete ideas.”

He stressed that Senate Democrats are united around those demands. Without a willingness from GOP lawmakers and the president to negotiate, his caucus is pledging to withhold their votes from a broader funding package that must pass by Friday, Jan. 30.

The impasse is virtually guaranteeing another shutdown of potentially broad swaths of the federal government on the heels of last year’s record-breaking crisis.

Even if an agreement is quickly reached, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson would likely have to call back the House of Representatives, which is on a weeklong recess. Doing so would pose a big logistical challenge before the Friday deadline, especially given inclement weather in Washington, D.C.

And even then, it’s not clear any Senate agreements could survive a tough-to-predict vote in the House.

“I think the House will have to come back,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut. “Sometimes they might actually have to show up when the country is exploding.”

All that uncertainty has left Senate Republican leaders pleading with Democrats not to hold government funding hostage over the controversy in Minneapolis. Yet since the incident over the weekend, even GOP lawmakers have criticized the way the Trump administration initially defended and mischaracterized the killing of Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse.

“There have been a lot of statements that have been made, I think, many in advance of actually having the facts,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota.

Thune said the White House and Republicans were willing to “sit down and have a discussion” about the future of DHS. But he said another government shutdown would be in nobody’s best interest.

“I hope we can get this thing back on track,” he told reporters. “Government shutdowns don’t benefit anyone.”

Notably, some Republican senators, including John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have expressed an openness to splitting up the funding bills. That strategy could limit shutdown pain and shepherd negotiations along, Kennedy told reporters.

“My problem in making that assessment is I’m being rational,” he said. “And this is not a rational process.”

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: After Pretti killing, Democrats unveil demands, threaten shutdown