By Lindsay Wise, Siobhan Hughes and Michelle Hackman
WASHINGTON -- Democrats' drive to reach a deal to put new restrictions on immigration-enforcement agents is running into a Republican brick wall, with lawmakers in both parties saying an agreement looks increasingly unlikely by a Feb. 13 deadline.
Congress has just over a week to reach a deal or funding will lapse for the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement but also Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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. Republicans are open to some of the ideas but have rejected others -- while also introducing their own demands, such as an end to so-called sanctuary cities.
"The bottom line is we're ready to sit down and negotiate, but it's got to be strong, it's got to be tough. It's got to rein in ICE in very serious ways and end the violence. And we hope our Republican colleagues will meet us on that," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Wednesday. "And if they're not serious and they don't put in real reform, they shouldn't expect our votes. Plain and simple."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said Wednesday that he was already thinking about proposing another stopgap funding bill for DHS -- possibly for the rest of this fiscal year -- assuming that talks fail. But Democrats said they were unlikely to provide the votes for any extension unless negotiations have made real progress, and Thune said their rhetoric suggested they weren't serious about reaching a deal. "Hopefully cooler heads will prevail," he said.
Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but any deal would need 60 votes under chamber rules.
Thune has designated Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) to head talks for Senate Republicans. Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) will take the lead for Democrats. Schumer said Wednesday that he would send a formal offer to Republicans within 24 hours.
Lawmakers are wading into one of the nation's thorniest policy debates -- an issue at the heart of Trump's presidency -- in the volatile environment of a midterm-election year. Democrats' demands for changes were sparked by the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, which also drew concern from Republicans and prompted talks with the White House.
In response to public backlash, Trump sent his White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and Homan said Wednesday that he was pulling out 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal officers and agents. Earlier, the administration said it would provide body cameras to federal officers in Minneapolis and expand the program nationwide.
"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough," Trump told NBC News.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is "willing, obviously, to have this dialogue and to talk and to listen" with lawmakers. But, she said, "we are not going to concede in enforcing our nation's immigration laws."
A White House official said another stopgap funding measure for DHS is preferred to a shutdown and blamed House Democrats for wasting negotiating time. The White House is still waiting for a more concrete list from Democrats, the official said.
Most lawmakers' expectations for a deal are low. Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) predicted that debate over curbing ICE in the coming days will have "all of the substance and efficiency of an eighth-grade carwash." He said he hoped he was wrong, "but what I smell coming is a long, long shutdown for DHS."
Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said it would 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."
On Tuesday, Trump signed into law a $1.2 trillion spending package that ended a brief partial government shutdown triggered by the fight over immigration enforcement. The package included a two-week funding patch for DHS, intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate on new restrictions and oversight.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are arguing over a number of key items on Democrats' list, including the insistence on a mask ban.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) said 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."
GOP lawmakers think that they have a strong bargaining position, given that Trump's signature 2025 law, known as the "one, big beautiful bill," provided an extra $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for Customs and Border Protection. Those funds could be tapped if DHS funding lapses later this month.
Democrats say they are looking for common-sense changes that most Americans support after Pretti's death.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) said that Democrats 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 critics say create too low a threshold for arrests and home searches.
One is based on a memo that the Trump administration crafted to assert sweeping powers to forcibly enter the homes of immigrants in the country illegally 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.
Watch: What a WSJ Reporter Saw on the Ground Following Minneapolis Shooting
The second has to do with warrantless arrests, popularized this year by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who dispatched roving patrols of agents to comb neighborhoods for people to stop and question. Under a change Democrats are proposing, immigration officers would be required to have an administrative warrant signed by a neutral third party, requiring them to know who they are targeting in advance.
"What I'm looking for are meaningful restraints on what has been a dramatic abuse of power and civil liberties," said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.).
Some Republicans said any deal must address Democratic-run "sanctuary city" jurisdictions they say are impeding the work of ICE.
"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.).
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 16:40 ET (21:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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