Johnson Open To ‘Reasonable’ Immigration Enforcement Changes
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that he is open to certain immigration enforcement reforms being pushed by Democrats, while making clear that other proposals would undermine federal authority and burden law enforcement as Congress works to end the ongoing government shutdown.
Johnson said the House is expected to begin procedural votes Monday afternoon aimed at reopening the government, though negotiations remain tense.
“Some of these conditions and requests that they’ve made are obviously reasonable and should happen. But others are going to require a lot more negotiation,” Johnson told Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate are pressing for changes to the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operate, following passage of a $1.2 trillion funding package in the Senate on Friday. The package includes five regular appropriations bills along with a two-week stopgap measure for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both agencies, The Hill reported.
Because the House was in recess Friday, funding for roughly 78 percent of the federal government expired at midnight Saturday. The partial shutdown is expected to extend at least through Tuesday, as House Democrats have refused to fast-track approval of the Senate package.
Earlier in the week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) unveiled a slate of proposed immigration enforcement restrictions, including banning roving federal patrols, expanding warrant requirements for federal officers, imposing a universal code of conduct, and prohibiting agents from wearing masks during operations.
“These are commonsense reforms,” Schumer said. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order, plain and simple.”
Schumer did not address repeated attacks by Democratic lawmakers and activists who have likened ICE and Border Patrol agents to “Nazis” and the “Gestapo,” nor the party’s efforts to inflame opposition to federal immigration enforcement nationwide.
Johnson said he supports banning roving patrols and requiring immigration officers to wear body cameras, but firmly rejected other Democratic demands. He defended agents’ use of masks, noting they are worn “to protect their own identities and protect their own families,” and warned that expanded warrant requirements would impose a “whole other layer of, effectively, bureaucracy” on enforcement efforts.
“I really hope that everybody will come to the table in good faith,” Johnson said of the DHS negotiations. “That’s what’s going to be required here.”
The debate comes as the Trump administration presses forward with aggressive immigration enforcement despite mounting resistance from Democratic-controlled states and cities. On Saturday, a federal judge rejected Minnesota’s attempt to immediately halt a large-scale immigration operation ordered by President Donald Trump.
Minnesota, along with Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed suit seeking to block Operation Metro Surge — a deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities area. State officials claimed the operation exceeded federal authority and violated state sovereignty, citing controversial deaths during enforcement actions.
U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, a Biden appointee, ruled that the plaintiffs failed to meet the high bar required for a preliminary injunction, concluding they had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional claims.
“Plaintiffs ask the Court to extend existing precedent to a new context where its application is less direct — namely, to an unprecedented deployment of armed federal immigration officers to aggressively enforce immigration statutes,” Menendez wrote.
“None of the cases on which they rely have even come close,” she added.
While acknowledging the operation’s impact on local communities, Menendez emphasized that the ruling did not amount to a final judgment on the legality of the enforcement action itself.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the decision and indicated the state intends to continue pursuing the lawsuit as the case proceeds.