Democrats Make Political Bet on DHS Demands, Despite GOP’s Iran Warnings

A week after President Trump launched strikes against Iran, Democrats are digging in against reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without significant reforms to the agency.

Party leaders are amplifying their demands for tougher rules governing agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Rank-and-file Democrats appear to be fully on board. And a test vote in the House on Thursday demonstrated that, if anything, the Iran conflict has only solidified the party’s support behind the leadership position.

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The strategy carries political risks, as Republicans warn of the threat to national security if DHS remains shuttered indefinitely during the Iran campaign, which shows no signs of ending soon. In the wake of the strikes, GOP leaders wasted no time in invoking the conflict to force Democrats to abandon their push for immigration reforms and back a GOP bill reopening DHS.

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Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) questioned why his fellow Democrats would oppose legislation that would liberate funds to pay airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and field workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), all while the federal immigration agencies at the center of the controversy are still being funded under a separate law.

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Part of the Democrats’ confidence that they won’t suffer any political blowback over the impasse stems from the fact that they’ve offered alternative bills to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the other parts of DHS except ICE and CBP — bills that have been rejected by Republicans.

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