The fight over immigration enforcement across the country will likely be felt along the shores of Door County for the foreseeable future after members of Congress left Washington, D.C., without a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security past Friday.
According to The Hill, the funding impasse is expected to affect the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard more than it will Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Democrats’ demands for reforms to ICE in the wake of multiple fatal shootings during immigration enforcement operations are at the center of the stalled efforts.
On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said that ICE agents need to be held to the same standards as local law enforcement, which she said should include having warrants to make arrests and dropping the use of masks.
“Today, we had a choice: give ICE a blank check to continue wreaking havoc on Americans, or say no and say that we need to do better,” Baldwin said. “I know better is possible, but the White House and Republicans need to get serious and listen to the American people who are demanding ICE be reined in.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said at his tele-town hall earlier this month that defunding DHS and ICE would be a mistake.
According to Fox News, the U.S. Coast Guard will likely see reduced operations during the shutdown because it is the only military branch under DHS rather than the Department of Defense. It could also result in suspended pay for the Coast Guard’s 56,000 active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel.
That number includes the nearly 70 U.S. Coast Guard members who are part of the three commands based in Sturgeon Bay.
