The House of Representatives voted to reopen major parts of the U.S. government on Tuesday afternoon, setting up a major fight between the White House and Senate Democrats to enact major changes to the way the federal government is conducting immigration enforcement.
The House voted 217-214 to pass legislation the Senate passed last week, with 21 Republicans voting against it, but 21 Democrats voting for it.
The legislation would fund the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Education and Transportation for the rest of the fiscal year. But it would only fund the Department of Homeland Security–which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection–for two weeks.
Democrats hope to use this two-week span to negotiate changes to the way ICE and CBP conduct themselves after ICE official Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good and CBP officials shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month. In the hours after, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called Pretti a domestic terrorist, which triggered even some Republicans to say she needed to resign.
Many Democrats, including those from Minnesota, opposed it.
President Donald Trump had dispatched ICE to Minneapolis under the guise of cracking down after a massive welfare fraud scandal involving some Somali-Americans. But it has also led to some U.S. citizens and those with pending immigration in the United States legally being detained.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made his demands clear last week, saying that he wanted to end roving patrols throughout American cities, a removal of masks for ICE and CBP agents, and body cameras for agents.
