Democrats have 10 ICE reforms they want to see before agreeing to fund DHS

Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday said Democrats will continue to block Department of Homeland Security funding until Republicans agree to a "dramatic change" in the tactics of federal immigration agents involved in President Donald Trump's immigration operations.

DHS funding expires Feb. 13, and legislators left the Capitol on Thursday for a long weekend. The discussion of new rules for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies involved in immigration enforcement comes on the heels of the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents.

Both Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have said they need reforms before Republicans get funding support. Schumer this week told reporters Congress must "rein in ICE in very serious ways, and end the violence." The leaders on Wednesday sent House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune a list of "guardrails."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday called the reforms "unrealistic" and warned that DHS will shut down without their approval, according to the Associated Press. The appropriations bill also includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration, meaning travel could be affected once again if an agreement isn't reached.

According to the letter, here are the Democratic demands:

Targeted enforcement

"DHS officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant. End discriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards. Require verification that a person is not a U.S citizen before holding them in immigration detention."

No masks

"Prohibit ICE and and immigration enforcement agents from wearing face coverings."

Require ID

"Require DHS officers conducting immigration enforcement to display their agency, unique ID number and last name. Require them to verbalize their ID number and last name if asked."

Protect sensitive locations

"Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc."

Stop racial profiling

"Prohibit DHS officers from conducting stops, questioning and searches based on an individual's presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity."

Uphold use of force standards

"Place into law a reasonable use of force policy, expand training and require certification of officers. In the case of an incident, the officer must be removed from the field until an investigation is conducted."

Ensure state and local coordination and oversight

"Preserve the ability of State and local jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and use of excessive force incidents. Require that evidence is preserved and shared with jurisdictions. Require the consent of States and localities to conduct large-scale operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement."

Build safeguards into the system

"Make clear that all buildings where people are detained must abide by the same basic detention standards that require immediate access to a person’s attorney to prevent citizen arrests or detention. Allow states to sue DHS for violations of all requirements. Prohibit limitations on Member visits to ICE facilities regardless of how those facilities are funded."

Body cameras for accountability, not tracking

"Require use of body-worn cameras when interacting with the public and mandate requirements for the storage and access of footage. Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities."

No paramilitary police

"Regulate and standardize the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers carry during enforcement operations to bring them in line with civil enforcement"

Durbin on Friday stood beside advocates from the Resurrection Project, the National Immigrant Justice Center, the Cook County Public Defender's Office, The Immigration Project, and The Latino Policy Forum in Pilsen — and showed his support for what he called "basic" demands.

"We want to make sure that the federal law enforcement agencies like ICE play by the same rules as every professional law enforcement agency in America. No exceptions when it comes down to it," Durbin said. "Do you expect to run into a Chicago policeman wearing a mask to work, taking off his name tag? No, you don't. And you also expect him to be wearing a video camera so that he can capture the real truth of what's happening in front of him and during the course of the day. Those are basic to good law enforcement, basic to America, but unheard of when it comes to ICE operations."

Durbin said Democrats want Republicans to resolve the reforms "within a week." And he said he believes some of his Republican colleagues in the Senate "understand something has to be done."

"This decision by the Trump administration and by [the] ICE agency to set up their own rules and to depart from standard police practice across America is just unacceptable to them too," Durbin said.