Patty Murray to White House: No Funding Increase for ICE

The top Democratic appropriator draws a clear red line over funding increases for the rogue federal agency terrorizing communities across America.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats have drawn a definitive red line in the high-stakes negotiations over the Homeland Security Appropriations bill: there will be zero funding increases for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The standoff, which threatens to push the government toward a partial shutdown on January 30, pits a determined Republican subcommittee chair against a Democratic leadership core that says it has seen enough “militarized policing” on American streets.

The Battle of the Subcommittee

Senator Katie Britt (R-AL), who leads the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, is fighting “tooth and nail” to expand ICE’s reach. Britt, the architect of the Laken Riley Act, is demanding funding for 4,000 additional detention beds, a move that would significantly expand the agency’s capacity to jail both migrants and, increasingly, U.S. citizens ensnared in interior enforcement sweeps.

However, the Democratic wall appears impenetrable. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Demo…