Prospects for ICE deal sour on Capitol Hill as shutdown deadline nears for critical agency

(CNN) — For a fleeting moment in Washington, top Democrats believed last week they could reach a deal with the GOP to set new limits on President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration enforcement after federal agents killed two US citizens in Minnesota.

That hope is mostly gone inside the US Capitol.

Congress’ push for a bipartisan deal to scale back federal immigration officers’ powers is now in doubt, with Speaker Mike Johnson ruling out two of Democrats’ biggest demands after the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Johnson is among many Republicans who are refusing Democrats’ demands to stop searches without a judicial warrant and unmask ICE officers in public. Instead, many GOP lawmakers are issuing their own must-haves, like language to end so-called sanctuary cities – a nonstarter for Democrats.

Johnson said Tuesday that Republicans are “never” going to agree to requiring that ICE agents obtain warrants from a judge, rather than simply getting the greenlight from a Trump administration official.

“It is unimplementable. It cannot be done, and it should not be done. It’s not necessary,” he said.

Democrats, meanwhile, are insisting they cannot accept anything but dramatic reforms to the Department of Homeland Security that can satisfy the national uproar from their base.

Now, both parties are anticipating a nasty standoff over the DHS budget when its current funding runs out in just two weeks. Tensions are quickly rising on Capitol Hill as the two sides harden their positions, with growing odds of a DHS shutdown that could snarl airport traffic and leave the Coast Guard and Secret Service without pay.

The biggest question now is whether the two sides can come up with a funding bill that any Democrats can support — or whether the department is headed for its third shutdown in less than a year.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday afternoon that it will be very difficult to get a deal over ICE by the deadline and it might take a miracle.

“There’s always miracles, right? Maybe things will come together and we’ll be able to vote on something at the end of the two weeks,” Thune told reporters. “I think that would be overly optimistic, based on my experience.”

Asked about whether Republicans can reach a deal by mid-February, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise seemed even more downbeat.

“Democrats have been the party of defunding the police for a long time. They’ve been clear for years that they don’t want to fund law enforcement of any kind,” Scalise told CNN.

It’s not even clear how the negotiations will proceed: Thune has said it is up to House and Senate Democrats to work with the White House, while one top Democrat involved in DHS funding – Sen. Chris Murphy – has said the onus is on GOP leaders in Congress to come to his party.

“That’s up to them. They’re in charge. They need to convene some serious negotiations,” Murphy said of Thune and Johnson. But the Connecticut Democrat made clear he isn’t giving up on the talks: “Let’s sit down, let’s sit at the table.”

Another Democrat, Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, voiced exasperation at what he described at the GOP’s shifting tune on the talks. Asked Tuesday about Johnson throwing cold water on some of Democrats’ demands, Crow said, “They continue to not operate in good faith, right?”

“Over and over and over again,” he said, “you feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, right? And they’re moving it all the time.”

So far the only bipartisan agreement appears to be over ICE officers wearing body cameras – something that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday will be rolled out for all Homeland Security officers on the ground in Minneapolis.

Rep. Tim Burchett, a hardline conservative from Tennessee, told CNN he believes it will be “very hard” to get a deal on ICE and attacked one of Democrats’ ideas of forcing ICE officers to remove their masks.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma described most of Democrats’ demands as “nonstarters” and accused the party of simply playing to their base: “They’re not being serious. This is political theater.”

Many Democrats, meanwhile, insist they’re feeling little pressure to avoid a DHS shutdown in two weeks, even considering potentially debilitating effects on TSA and other agencies.

Outcry from the base has been so strong that just 21 House Democrats voted for a massive funding package on Tuesday that included temporary funding for DHS.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri said GOP willingness to deal on the issue has seemingly disappeared. He’s received, he said, 2,706 phone calls to his office in the last two weeks demanding that he hold strong against ICE funding. The senior Democrat said it’s the loudest response he’s received on any issue since the passage of Obamacare.

“If you check with all of the offices, I can almost guarantee you that all of these offices are getting more phone calls saying ‘no’ than maybe anything since the ACA,” Cleaver told CNN.

Rep. Juan Vargas, a progressive from California, lambasted Republicans for ruling out “things that are absolutely essential for us.”

“I don’t see how we’re going to get there in two weeks, I honestly don’t,” Vargas added.

When asked if any Republicans have any appetite to make changes to ICE, GOP Rep. Warren Davidson told CNN: “Very few.” And he said he doubts any deal can happen in the next two weeks, or at all, with Democrats.

“I don’t think Democrats want to say ‘yes.’ I think they want to find an unlimited number of ways to say ‘no.’”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.