Senate Democrats are opposing funding after a Minneapolis man was shot by border patrol officers

Senate Democrats are poised to scrap a fragile deal that would avert a partial government shutdown after a Minneapolis man was shot and killed by a border patrol agent on Saturday.

Congressional Democrats already wanted to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the agency’s presence in Minnesota and beyond, but the shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, during an immigration enforcement operation disrupted what little unity they had on the bill.

Now, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plan to vote against the legislation, which is currently included in a comprehensive spending package and five other spending bills.

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Schumer, in a statement on Saturday, said that Democrats tried to find “modest changes” in the DHS funding bill, but charged that “due to the refusal of Republicans to stand up for President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully insufficient to strengthen the abuse” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I’m going to vote no,” Schumer said. “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed with the budget bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”

Schumer’s call to action serves as a blow to Senate Republicans, who have worked with their colleagues across the board to find consensus on the DHS bill, in particular. It also comes as the government funding deadline is fast approaching on Friday, Jan. 30. Another strange issue is the typhoon affecting the whole country, which has already forced the upper council to cancel the votes on Monday.

A senior Senate aide told Fox News Digital that Senate Democrats have said for weeks that they are not interested in shutting down the government again, and praised the bipartisan nature of the process to fund the government until Saturday.

“These bills were negotiated with the Dems — they agreed to what was in them,” they said.

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Protesters stand behind a pile of trash cans as they gather near the site where state and local authorities say a man was shot and killed by federal agents early in the morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 24, 2026. Federal immigration agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday, officials said — the second fatal public shooting, city officials say. The death comes less than three weeks after U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer involved in a sweep of undocumented immigrants. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)

The agency would be fully funded in the current proposal with a number of restrictions and reporting requirements that, if not met, would serve as infrastructure to block the flow of certain funds.

Ripping this bill out of the current six-bill funding package would result in a major headache for Congress, as any changes to the package must pass the House.

The basement is gone until Feb. 2, which makes the probability of shutdown very high.

Prior to the incident, a number of Senate Democrats had been able to veto the legislation, including Reps. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine, in particular, crossed paths last year to join a group of Senate Democratic caucus members to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in American history.

She wasn’t the only member of that group of eight to voice opposition — Reps. Catherine Cortez Masto, DN.V., and Jacky Rosen, DN.M., both came out against the inclusion of the DHS bill in the broader package on Saturday.

“My guiding principle has always been ‘acquiesce when you can and fight when you have to,'” Rosen said in a statement. “And I believe this is the time to fight.”

Meanwhile, House lawmakers are on a weeklong recess after passing their latest bill in two counts — one independent vote on DHS funding and another that includes legislation to fund the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development — last Thursday.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., held a news conference following the House Republican Conference meeting at the US Capitol on Jan. 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. Republicans talked about ICE operations in Minnesota, affordability and the upcoming federal budget law. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A provision was added to the legislation before it passed the House that would bundle the bills into a larger package for the Senate to consider at once. It was then expected to be combined with other laws that the Senate has not considered but passed the House this month.

To change that before the closing deadline of Jan. 30 would mean House lawmakers must return to Washington early to go through more procedural hurdles and another vote on legislation — something House GOP leaders are ruling out, at least for now.

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“We’ve passed all 12 bills in the Senate, and they still have a few thumbs up to pass to the president,” a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital on Saturday evening, referring to the lower chamber finalizing its portion of Congress’ annual appropriations process. “We have no plans to come back next week.”

Even if House leaders change their plans, the impending snowstorm will mean lawmakers may not return until Tuesday at the earliest. That would put the final passage sometime on Wednesday or Thursday, ensuring that Congress does not complete consideration of the bills until after the Friday deadline.

House GOP leaders are likely to face attendance issues again if they do return, with various lawmakers on tour and more than a dozen campaigning for top positions.

A partial government shutdown would mean that only agencies not already funded by Congress would have to cut back or stop working — in this case, the pay of active-duty military personnel, air traffic controllers, and border patrol agents could all be affected.