Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) stated that Senate Democrats had only begun direct talks with Republicans after 34 days of stalemate over Department of Homeland Security funding.
The dispute centers on Democrats’ efforts to fund major DHS agencies including the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency while excluding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
When asked about House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his push to withhold ICE funding, Marshall noted that Democrats had waited more than a month before engaging directly with Senate Republicans.
“This is day 34,” he said. “And today is the first day that these Democratic senators were willing to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation.”
Marshall emphasized that Republicans remain firm on their position: “We need to stick with the Trump policies.” He rejected demands to “unmask” ICE agents, arguing that officers and their families could be put at risk.
Additionally, he opposed judicial warrants for immigration arrests, stating that by the time an individual is apprehended, they have already undergone a judicial process. Instead, Marshall called for administrative warrants: “We need to stick with that administrative warrant.”
The senator identified two remaining issues: Democrats’ demands to identify ICE agents and disagreements over what type of warrants should be used in immigration arrests.
“Those are the last two issues,” he concluded.
