By Lindsay Wise, Siobhan Hughes and Michelle Hackman
WASHINGTON -- Congress managed to end a brief partial government shutdown triggered by a fight over immigration enforcement, narrowly approving a $1.2 trillion spending package in the House and sending it to President Trump's desk for his signature.
And that was the easy part.
Now, Republicans and Democrats have less than two weeks to negotiate legislation that would place new restrictions on immigration enforcement. Lawmakers are wading into one of the nation's thorniest policy debates -- at the heart of Trump's presidency -- in the volatile environment of a midterm election year.
Democrats, angered by the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, have demanded a list of changes they want to see written into the bill before they provide the votes needed to pass full-year funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but need 60 votes to advance the legislation under the chamber's rules.
"Executive actions alone will never be enough," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) on Tuesday. "We know how whimsical Donald Trump is. He'll say one thing one day and retract it the next."
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is "willing, obviously, to have this dialogue and to talk and to listen." But, she said, "we are not going to concede in enforcing our nation's immigration laws."
Lawmakers warned that reaching a deal before the Feb. 13 deadline could be impossible.
"I don't think it's very realistic, personally," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters Tuesday. "Who knows? Maybe. There's always some miracles, right?"
Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) said he expected the debate over Immigration and Customs Enforcement would have "all of the substance and efficiency of an eighth-grade carwash." He said he hoped he was wrong on his prediction, "but what I smell coming is a long, long shutdown for DHS."
Democrats aren't optimistic either. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) predicted it will be "extraordinarily challenging to get a deal at all because the Trump administration doesn't seem to be wanting to back away in any way from their reckless, cruel and unjust actions."
Among Democrats' demands are an end to roving street patrols by federal immigration agents, tighter rules governing warrants and use of force, independent investigations for officer misconduct, and a prohibition on agents wearing masks. They also want to require agents to use body cameras and carry identification.
In response to public backlash, Trump removed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino from Minnesota and sent his White House border czar Tom Homan, signaling a retreat from some of the most aggressive tactics to which Democrats have objected. Homan announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is pulling 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal officers and agents out of Minnesota. Earlier, the administration pledged to provide body cameras to federal officers in Minneapolis and expand the program nationwide.
On Capitol Hill, already lawmakers are arguing over a number of items on Democrats' list -- including Democrats' insistence on a mask ban -- foreshadowing difficult negotiations ahead.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.), a close Trump ally, dismissed Democrats' demands as "personally dangerous and professionally impossible." Requiring that officers remove their masks and identify themselves during operations "is a clear and obvious attempt to intimidate and put our federal agents in harm's way," Schmitt said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) said Democrats simply want ICE agents to operate under the same constraints as other law-enforcement officials. She rejected the argument that immigration agents need to wear masks to protect them from doxxing. "I mean, at some point you really have to call BS," Warren said.
Lawmakers also are divided over whether to change two contentious policies that some say create too low a threshold for arrests and home searches.
One is based on a memo that the Trump administration crafted to assert powers to forcibly enter the homes of immigrants whom they are hoping to arrest without a criminal warrant signed by a judge. The administration has asserted it can forcibly enter homes using only an administrative warrant, which currently is signed by an internal ICE supervisor, though outside experts say that likely violates constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
The second has to do with warrantless arrests, popularized this year by Bovino, who sent roving patrols of agents to comb neighborhoods for people to stop and question. In September, the Supreme Court allowed Bovino's approach to continue, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that it is legal for agents to use a person's skin color, language spoken or their profession, for example, as factors to consider when deciding to ask for their papers. Under a change Democrats are proposing, officers would be required to have an administrative warrant signed by a neutral third party, so they know who they are targeting in advance.
Some Republicans argue that the main problem is that Democratic-run cities' leaders are impeding the work of ICE. They are readying their own list of demands, including legislation to eliminate what are called sanctuary-city jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
"It's only fair that if you're going to open this thing up and start talking about that, that we get into what actually is causing this problem in the first place, and a lot of it is local units of government that are flouting federal law," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.).
"There is no upside to sanctuary cities unless you're a complete radical nutjob," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) told Trump during the Oval Office ceremony in which the president signed the government-funding bill.
GOP lawmakers think that they have a strong bargaining position, given that Trump's signature 2025 law, known as the "big beautiful bill," provided an extra $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for Customs and Border Protection. Those funds can be tapped if DHS funding lapses later this month.
Among the Republicans who have said they would consider supporting more guardrails on ICE is Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. She said that Democrats had come a long way from slogans to defund or abolish ICE, but that it would still be hard for Republicans to come to terms on some of their proposals.
"I want to try," she said. "I'm just going to encourage us all to work."
Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com, Siobhan Hughes at Siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2026 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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