Democrats present 10-point DHS reform package as funding deadline looms

Democrats unveiled a 10-point package of demands to overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection operations as Congress races toward a Feb. 13 Department of Homeland Security funding deadline. The move follows viral footage and two deadly incidents in Minneapolis that Democrats say expose systemic problems in enforcement tactics.

The package, announced by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at a Capitol briefing late Wednesday, would require immigration agents to conduct operations unmasked and to prominently display agency and identification numbers. It would mandate body cameras, with Democrats specifying footage be used for accountability rather than to track protesters, and would tighten warrant requirements so agents obtain judicial warrants before forcible home entry and curtail so-called roving patrols.

Democrats also pressed for prohibitions on enforcement at sensitive locations such as schools, churches, medical facilities, polling places and courts; an end to racial profiling; explicit bans on indiscriminate arrests, tracking of protesters and certain surveillance tactics; requirements that states and localities consent to large-scale operations and retain jurisdiction over misconduct investigations; and standardized use-of-force policies, expanded training and uniform standardization. The White House-era department has already moved to require body cameras in Minneapolis, but Democrats said those changes must be codified in statute to be permanent.

Schumer framed the package in stark terms at the briefing, saying, “When Americans see the pictures of these goons beating people, pushing people, and even shooting and killing people, they say this is not America. It is reminiscent of dictatorship.” Jeffries wrote on X that “ICE is out of control and has gone too far,” and Democrats say they will not vote for another stopgap measure to extend DHS funding beyond the two-week continuing resolution enacted this past Tuesday.

The legislative math constrains options. The short stopgap covered only two weeks of DHS funding, and the fiscal 2026 DHS appropriations bill remains the sole appropriations measure not yet enacted. In the Senate, 60 votes are required to advance spending legislation, meaning Democratic support would be pivotal. House Republicans hold a razor-thin majority that leaves room for only a single defection to pass bills without Democratic backing.

Republican leaders rejected the package as unrealistic and politically motivated. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called it “totally unrealistic. Their demand list went from three items to 10 items. It just shows you they’re not, they’re not serious yet.” Thune also warned that identification requirements could “set them up to get doxxed.” Senator Katie Boyd Britt dismissed the list as “a ridiculous Christmas list of demands for the press.” Senator Markwayne Mullin said the conference would not adopt all 10 provisions, calling it “not going to happen.” Senator Lindsey Graham said the proposal would impede deportations of dangerous criminals and warned substantive reform is unlikely under the current tack.

The immediate stakes are operational and political. If Congress fails to pass funding by Feb. 13, DHS programs could be temporarily shuttered, imperiling border operations, disaster response and other functions. Some lawmakers have floated another stopgap to push the deadline into March, but Jeffries’ public refusal to support that option signals a potential impasse. Lawmakers face a choice between negotiating piecemeal statutory changes separate from funding, as Republicans prefer, or attaching binding reforms to the must-pass DHS appropriations bill, as Democrats insist — a divergence that could determine whether the department is funded and whether the Minneapolis incidents drive durable policy change.