Senior Dem Rep Admits Why Party Shut Down Government

South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn told MS NOW host Al Sharpton on Sunday that his party shut down the government to force the defunding of federal immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump secured $75 billion in funding under the One Big Beautiful Bill to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct immigration enforcement operations, which Democrats have fiercely opposed. Clyburn claimed that Republicans’ refusal to agree to fund ICE was the reason the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remained unfunded. (RELATED: “Why would you want to punish all these workers?”: Sen Fetterman doesn’t spare his fellow Democrats from the effects of the government shutdown)

“This is an ICE issue,” Clyburn told Sharpton. “It has nothing to do with TSA, nothing to do with FEMA, nothing to do with the Coast Guard. It’s all wrapped up in this bill that Republicans refuse to introduce. We’ll vote for it, but we’re not going to fund ICE to keep killing people, to keep masking themselves so no one can identify them.”

WATCH:

Senate Democrats have obstructed funding for DHS, demanding “reforms” of the agency that Republicans say would cripple its ability to deport illegal immigrants, including requiring the use of so-called “judicial warrants” for ICE to arrest illegal immigrants. Democrats also said reassigning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wouldn’t be enough to convince them to defund DHS.

Several agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are under “emergency measures” due to the DHS shutdown, according to a Feb. 22 statement from the agency. TSA workers did not receive full pay Friday, even though they were still scheduled to work.

Democrats are demanding new restrictions on ICE after DHS agents were implicated in the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in January during Operation Metro Surge, a deployment of hundreds of federal agents to Minnesota in response to reports of welfare fraud involving Somali migrants.

Following the announcement of increased federal immigration enforcement, Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis said in a Dec. 7 interview with WCCO, a CBS affiliate television station in the city, that local law enforcement would not coordinate with federal agencies involved in the operation.

During the State of the Union address on February 24, when President Trump asked whether American citizens could be prioritized over illegal immigrants, Democratic members remained seated.

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