{"id":46344,"date":"2026-01-27T13:04:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46344"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T21:05:00","slug":"senate-gop-plans-to-give-ice-10-billion-more-as-masked-agents-murder-people-in-broad-daylight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/senate-gop-plans-to-give-ice-10-billion-more-as-masked-agents-murder-people-in-broad-daylight\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate GOP Plans to Give ICE $10 Billion More as Masked Agents \u2018Murder People in Broad Daylight\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"US<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks to the media on January 13, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy support for funding ICE remains the same,\u201d said one Republican following the horrific killing of Alex Pretti.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 26, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republicans<\/a> in the US Senate<\/a> indicated Sunday that they planned to move ahead this week with government funding legislation that includes $10 billion for Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement after a federal agent gunned down<\/a> intensive-care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a killing captured on video from multiple angles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy support for funding ICE remains the same,\u201d declared<\/a> Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), a sentiment echoed by other GOP<\/a> lawmakers ahead of votes on a package of six government appropriations bills approved by the US House<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Amid Funding Fight, Sanders Says Unmask ICE, Repeal $75 Billion Giveaway, and More<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Federal<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

7 House Democrats Vote With GOP to Give ICE More Money Despite Deadly Invasions of US Cities<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not defunding ICE,\u201d said Sen. Mike Lee<\/a> (R-Utah) after the horrific shooting of Pretti. \u201cLive with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unnamed Senate Republican aide told<\/a> Punchbowl<\/em> that \u201cgovernment funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown. We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the bills up for consideration in the Senate this week would provide $64.4 billion in taxpayer money to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including $10 billion for ICE\u2014an agency that is already more heavily funded<\/a> than many national militaries. Last summer, congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump<\/a> approved $170 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement, which ICE has used to massively jack up weapons spending<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> (D-NY) reportedly has the votes from his caucus to block the DHS funding bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Democrats have proposed separating the DHS legislation from the rest of the appropriations bills to avoid a looming January 30 shutdown and debate ICE reforms. The American Prospect<\/em>\u2018s David Dayen reported<\/a> late Sunday that Democrats are \u201cgoing to ask for real investigations into the murders (including an end to impeding the state\/local investigations)\u201d as well as an end to arrest quotas and mask-wearing by ICE agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFederal agents cannot murder people in broad daylight and face zero consequences,\u201d said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Democrats\u2019 top appropriator in the Senate. \u201cI will NOT support the DHS bill as it stands. The DHS bill needs to be split off from the larger funding package before the Senate\u2014Republicans must work with us to do that. I will continue fighting to rein in DHS and ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murray also stressed that \u201cblocking the DHS funding bill will not shut down ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap, whether or not we pass a funding bill,\u201d the senator added. \u201cBut we all saw another American shot and killed in broad daylight. There must be accountability, and we must keep pushing Republicans to work with us to rein in DHS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate must immediately take out any additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the current spending bill. Congressional Republicans must answer for these killings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Susan Collins<\/a> (R-Maine), the top Republican appropriator, did not mention ICE funding in her statement<\/a> on Pretti\u2019s killing, saying only that \u201cthis tragic shooting needs to be thoroughly and transparently investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming unified support from their caucus, Senate Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes to pass the funding package with DHS appropriations included. Last week, seven House Democrats<\/a> voted with Republicans to approve the DHS funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen<\/a>, said in a statement that \u201cthis federal enforcement agency is running rampant with an outrageous budget<\/a> that dwarfs most countries\u2019 militaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Homeland Security must get ICE off our streets now, and the Senate must immediately take out any additional funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the current spending bill,\u201d said Gilbert. \u201cCongressional Republicans must answer for these killings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy Fischer, Amnesty International<\/a> USA\u2019s director for refugee and migrant rights<\/a>, asked, \u201cHow many more people must die before US leaders act?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe US Senate faces an urgent choice in the coming days: continue pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into a lawless agency that endangers lives with impunity, or take meaningful action to rein in ICE and stop funding its abuses,\u201d said Fischer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks to the media on January 13, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Alex Wong\/Getty Images) \u201cMy support for funding ICE remains the same,\u201d said one Republican following the horrific killing of Alex Pretti. Jake Johnson Jan 26, 2026 (CommonDreams.org) Republicans in the US Senate indicated Sunday that they… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46345,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46344\/revisions\/46345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}