In an early morning session on Thursday, the House Rules Committee advanced a hotly debated appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), overcoming a significant procedural challenge and paving the way for the bill to be considered on the House floor.

This legislation proposes allocating tens of billions of dollars to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a move that has sparked substantial controversy among Democrats. Their concerns have been heightened following a recent incident in Minneapolis where an ICE officer fatally shot a woman, adding fuel to an already contentious debate.

Beyond ICE, the bill also earmarks funds for other critical agencies and programs under the DHS umbrella, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the U.S. Secret Service, and the Disaster Relief Fund.

In an effort to address some of the opposition’s concerns, the DHS bill incorporates specific reforms. These include a $115 million reduction in ICE’s budget for enforcement and removal operations, a reduction of 5,500 ICE detention beds, and a $1.8 billion cut in Border Patrol funding. Moreover, the bill enhances oversight of ICE through the Office of the Inspector General and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Despite these concessions, Democratic members of the Rules Committee voiced strong criticism of ICE, arguing that the proposed measures fall short of effectively controlling the agency’s operations and impact.

“Here’s the deal, not only what I have witnessed, you know, in terms of ICE behavior, by the way, not just in Minnesota, but even in Massachusetts and in other states. You know, that just is unacceptable,” House Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said.

“Asking American citizens ‘papers please’ is not freedom. You know, being fearful of a heavily armed, masked you know, group of U.S. forces is not democracy,” he added. “And all of us agree that criminals and people who commit terrible crimes should be held to account. But you know, we have U.S. citizens that are being detained.”

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), a member of the committee, said ICE should be held up to standards of “accountability,” which she argued the legislation doesn’t address. 

House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said during the hearing that she believes there are some good pieces to the bill, but it falls short in establishing the accountability, transparency, and enforcement guardrails she had sought.

She also added that it is ultimately up to her fellow Democrats to decide whether they will support the bill when it reaches the floor.

“I think everyone has to pay a close attention to what is in the bill, what they can view as positive or negative, and come to a conclusion about where they want to be on the bill,” DeLauro said. 

She had also warned in a previous statement that a shutdown would only leave TSA agents without pay and delay FEMA assistance, while a short-term stopgap measure would merely cede authority to the Trump administration.

During a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told his caucus he would vote against the DHS bill when it hits the floor. Even without a majority of Democratic support, though, the bill is still expected to pass the House.