Rep. , D-Minn., admitted during a town hall Tuesday that Democrats were responsible for blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security that led to the ongoing partial shutdown of the government agency.
While speaking at a town hall in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, Omar explained that she and fellow Democrats refused to back a funding bill unless changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were included.Â
Her remarks came as Congress remained in a standoff over DHS funding, with lawmakers divided over whether immigration agencies should be funded without additional restrictions.
“As many of you know, Democrats said we are not going to pass the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security unless they agreed to ten reforms, simple things like unmasking ICE agents when they were patrolling our communities,” Omar said.
She said those proposals were not accepted by Republicans or the , framing the disagreement as the central reason the department remained partially unfunded.
“So far, the Republicans and the president have refused to say yes to any of those reforms,” Omar said, referring to the ongoing negotiations.
The dispute left several without full funding as lawmakers debated competing proposals that would either fund the entire department or exclude immigration enforcement agencies.
Omar said the funding gap extended beyond immigration enforcement, affecting multiple agencies and personnel across the department.
“Which means the department doesnt have the resources to be able to pay for not just ICE and CBP, but they dont have the resources to pay for TSA agents. They dont have the resources to fund the Coast Guard, to fund our cybersecurity employees,” Omar said.
“In a time when our terror alarm is higher than usual.”
Omar also discussed federal immigration enforcement levels in Minnesota, describing what she said was a reduction in personnel after concerns were raised by lawmakers and community members.
“We went from having nearly 4,000 CBP [Customs and Border Protection] agents and ICE agents in Minnesota to now having less than 400,” Omar said.
“That is still too high when you think about what normally happens. ⦠We typically would have somewhere between 150 to 200.”
She said oversight efforts were ongoing, noting that prior visits with federal officials left outstanding questions that lawmakers were seeking to resolve.
“We are still tracking where the investigations are on the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” she said. “We are still asking for an independent investigation ⦠to bring justice to our neighbors that we feel were unjustly killed.”
reached out to Rep. Omar for comment but did not immediately hear back.
