The U.S. Senate refused on Friday to approve a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), thus maintaining the partial shutdown of the agency, which began on February 14 and is causing significant delays at airports in the country.
Friday’s vote, the fifth since the shutdown, failed to reach the 60 votes needed for approval, with 47 in favor and 37 against, with 16 senators not voting.
Senate rejects reopening of DHS
The shutdown of the Department came in the face of the Democrats’ refusal to approve the budget if key aspects of the immigration policy – which depends on this portfolio – implemented by the Trump Administration were not changed.
The deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by gunfire from federal agents during protests over mass immigration raids in Minneapolis were the trigger for Democrats to demand changes in migrant detention operations.
They demand, among other things, that agents should not wear masks and that warrants should be required to search private property.
Although the nominee to be the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has softened his message on immigration policy in his Senate confirmation hearings, negotiations between Democrats and Republicans to reopen the Department continue to stall.
In fact, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that negotiations on immigration enforcement “still have a long way to go” as there are “deep disagreements.”
As the Department enters the 35th day of its partial shutdown, the effects are becoming increasingly evident at some U.S. airports as many Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents have stopped coming to work or resigned from their positions because they no longer receive a salary.
This situation has led to very long queues at major U.S. airports such as Atlanta, New York’s JFK and New Orleans.
The Senate is expected to vote this Saturday to fund only the TSA, an option that if approved would leave the rest of the Department of Homeland Security’s operations in partial shutdown.
“The chaos at TSA is coming to a head. We need to reopen it as soon as possible,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said today in a floor speech.
Filed under: Senate rejects reopening of DHS
With information from EFE
