Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Tuesday criticized Democrats for making Department of Homeland Security funding conditional on a requirement that federal immigration agents must obtain a judicial warrant to carry out major enforcement activities.
Johnson said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the proposal was “completely unfeasible.” But this is Democrats’ biggest demand for funding for DHS, which is expected to lose funding by the end of this week if Congress fails to pass a spending bill.
Johnson said he hoped Congress could pass a new stopgap measure to buy time, but suggested Democrats had been unreasonable in previous negotiations.
“Just like they want to defund the police, they want to defund DHS,” Johnson said of his political opponents. DHS includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the agency’s deportation efforts have been particularly controversial after a severe surge in Minnesota sparked national anxiety.
Johnson, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Democrats “want to make it almost impossible for ICE to do its job.”
“Of the 10 demands, perhaps the most objectionable is to request a judicial warrant, which is completely unworkable,” he said.
“Our immigration laws have always been enforced by the executive branch through administrative law judges. Again, we have literally millions of cases that need to be decided. There is simply no way our Section 3 courts can handle that, and Democrats know that,” Johnson said.
Democrats rejected arguments that requiring a warrant signed by a judge to enter private property, as opposed to an administrative warrant issued by federal agency officials, would overburden the system.
The White House has offered a counterproposal to Democrats’ demands, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called it “incomplete and insufficient” in a statement late Monday.
Johnson also defended ICE officers wearing masks to cover their faces and accused Democrats of trying to force extremist political activists to “lock down” their officers.
“Democrats want to prevent ICE from using masks. Why? Because they want activists to be able to have masks and put their families at risk.”
He warned that the shutdown would have real harm, noting that the expiration of DHS spending would defund the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. Other departments within the department already received funding through previous legislation.
“They’re really playing with fire here,” Johnson said.
