Source: Fox News
Summary
Congressional Democrats failed to secure any reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite blocking several attempts to prevent or end the shutdown. The Senate-passed plan to end the Homeland Security shutdown did not include any of the 10 categories of reforms Democrats had proposed. Instead, Democrats walked away with $20 million to purchase body-worn cameras, which was already in the original Homeland Security funding bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune stated that Democrats “kissed that opportunity goodbye” by failing to provide funding for those agencies.
Our Reading
As expected, the matter has reached another stage.
The process of negotiating reforms to ICE has ended with no changes. Democrats had proposed 10 categories of reforms, but none were included in the final plan. The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, stated that Democrats had “kissed that opportunity goodbye”. The legislation did carve out funding for ICE and the border protection arm of CBP. The Democrats scored a political victory, but with no actual reforms. The Republicans plan to front-load immigration enforcement funding using the budget reconciliation process.
It seems that the familiar question of immigration enforcement reform remains unanswered.
Author: Evan Null
