By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress faces a midnight (EST) Friday deadline for a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is in charge of immigration enforcement operations that have ramped up across the United States under Trump administration policies.
Here are five difficult topics Republicans and Democrats are grappling with:
NEW CONTROLS ON HOW ICE AND CBP AGENTS OPERATE
Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives want Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents — especially those on roving patrols — to shed their face masks and wear legible name and badge IDs. They also want agents to wear body cameras and procedures written into law making camera footage available during investigations of conduct.
Other Democratic demands include requiring judicial warrants before DHS officers can enter private property.
Republicans argue Democrats’ constraints could endanger agents or their families, while Democrats say these are long-held practices police departments and other law enforcement forces abide by.
NEW CONTROLS ON WHERE ICE AND CBP OPERATE
Democrats say no more ICE or CBP agents hanging out at churches, schools, hospitals, voting places and courts to try to nab immigrants.
TIGHTER ‘SAFEGUARDS’ ON DETENTION FACILITIES
The buildings must grant immediate access to detainees’ lawyers to prevent U.S. citizens from arrest or detention, Democrats argue. They also want to end impediments they say the Trump administration erects when members of Congress try to visit detention centers as part of their oversight powers.
REPUBLICAN DEMANDS FOR SAFEGUARDING FEDERAL AGENTS
Democrats focus on safeguarding the public from what they see as overzealous ICE and CBP operations that have seen the killings of two U.S. citizens and growing public backlash in cities throughout the country. Republicans are focused on providing safety for federal agents to carry out arrests and deportations of immigrants in the country illegally, as ordered by President Donald Trump. Doing so will make American towns and cities safer, they argue.
They want new provisions in a $64.4 billion DHS funding bill to punish “sanctuary cities” that do not work in tandem with federal agents on immigration enforcement activities.
There is no legal definition for what constitutes a sanctuary jurisdiction and courts have ruled that state and local governments cannot be compelled to enforce federal regulatory programs. Nor can the federal government withhold funds to localities to coerce them to cooperate.
THE CLOCK AND THE CALENDAR
The Friday deadline means negotiators only had two weeks to discuss these and other proposals. Democrats have argued that should be sufficient time. Republicans maintain this is too complex to resolve in that timeframe and then put any deal into legislative language and sell it to rank-and-file lawmakers.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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