CA senators refuse to fund ICE, border patrol. Is a shutdown possible?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- California senators refuse DHS funding after Minneapolis killing by Border agents.
- Democratic Senate bloc threatens DHS-funding hold, risking agency shutdown.
- Republicans press investigations as FEMA funds complicate DHS bill timing.
California’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, adamantly refuse to back more funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the killing of intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti by border patrol agents in Minneapolis Saturday.
“I’m not voting for one more dime for ICE or CBP. These agents are provoking chaos and conflict in American cities and killing people in cold blood,” tweeted Sen. Adam Schiff.
“I refuse to give more money to CBP and ICE to continue terrorizing our communities and breaking the law,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., told The Sacramento Bee. Padilla is the top Democrat on the Senate border patrol and immigration subcommittee.
Senate Democrats Monday were united in that view. Their resistance poses a huge threat to keeping some government agencies open past Friday, when funding will expire.
The House last week passed legislation to fund the agencies through September 30, the end of this fiscal year. They packaged all the spending into one bill, which includes the budgets of the Departments of State, Defense, Education, Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security.
Senate Democrats want a separate bill on Homeland Security.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement. “Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill.”
Is a partial shutdown looming?
Complicating the effort is the fact that the homeland security budget includes money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, at a time when two-thirds of the nation has been hit by one of the worst winter storms in years.
Also in the mix is the view of President Donald Trump. He and administration officials have insisted that federal agents in Minnesota acted properly. Sunday night, Trump said on his Truth Social site “I am hereby calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass Legislation to END Sanctuary Cities, which is the root cause of all of these problems. American Cities should be Safe Sanctuaries for Law Abiding American Citizens ONLY, not Illegal Alien Criminals who broke our Nation’s Laws.”
Another complication is time. The Senate was unable to meet Monday because of a snow and ice storm that paralyzed Washington. It’s expected back Tuesday. Unless senators can agree to expedite the process, any final votes could go past Friday.
Some Republicans, though, have said they want further investigation of Saturday’s incident.
“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who usually sides with the Trump administration.
In the House, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-New York has formally requested testimony from immigration officials at a full committee hearing next month.
Schiff and Padilla protest
Schiff and Padilla have long been outraged by Trump’s immigration policies.
“After Republicans tripled their budget last year, we have seen immigration enforcement agents act with impunity – knocking down doors without warrants, racially profiling people for arrest, and in the worst instances assaulting and even shooting bystanders,” Padilla told The Bee.
He tweeted that “Trump thinks his ICE and CBP can act with absolute impunity. That’s not how we do things in the United States. No one is above the law. We must take a stand now in this funding fight.”
Schiff tweeted that “These agents are provoking chaos and conflict in American cities and killing people in cold blood.”
The homeland security budget barely passed the House last week, two weeks after the shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three protesting immigration policy in Minneapolis, by federal agents on January 7.
All 43 California Democrats voted against the measure, while all the state’s Republicans who voted were for it.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 9:59 AM.
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