President Donald Trump’s administration has offered several concessions to persuade lawmakers to restart funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but Democrats continue to refuse to compensate Transportation Security Administration personnel.
The White House and Democratic lawmakers have remained in a negotiation stalemate since the DHS shut down on February 14.
‘If this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports – particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up.’
Border czar Tom Homan and the White House director of legislative affairs, James Braid, wrote a letter dated March 17 to Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Katie Britt of Alabama, detailing the administration’s offered concessions.
The letter, which was shared by the Daily Wire, explained that the “majority” of Democrats’ demands “would make it impossible to fully protect American citizens from dangerous criminal aliens and expose law enforcement and their families to increasing threats of violence.”
“In other words, they would prioritize illegal aliens above American families,” it reads.
The letter detailed how Homan ended the surge operation in Minnesota, canceled Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s roving patrols, updated protocols for dealing with unlawful agitators, deployed body-worn cameras, and enhanced cooperation with local law enforcement.
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Tom Homan. Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Homan and Braid stated that the White House has offered to codify several improved guidelines, including expanding the use of body-worn cameras, limiting immigration enforcement activities in certain sensitive locations, increasing the oversight of detention centers, and requiring officers to visibly display their identification.
Despite the administration’s efforts to negotiate, Democratic lawmakers repeatedly failed to make a good-faith effort to compromise, according to Homan and Braid.
“The Administration has worked in good faith to again reach bipartisan agreement on full funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security and institute common-sense operational improvements to federal immigration enforcement operations that enhance the safety of American communities,” the letter reads.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused the White House of not taking the negotiations seriously.
“The issue is, they’re not getting serious,” Schumer stated. “The key issues of warrants when you bust into someone’s house, the key issue of identity of police and no masks, they haven’t budged on those.”
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Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Meanwhile, TSA agents missed their first full paycheck last week. An estimated 366 TSA agents quit last month, NBC News found.
A TSA spokesperson told Fox News that the national callout rate jumped to 10.19% on March 15, compared to 2% before the shutdown.
“If this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports — particularly smaller ones if callout rates go up,” acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl told the news outlet.
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