O US government entered into what is expected to be a brief shutdown this Saturday (31), after Congress failed to approve a deal to maintain funding for a wide range of operations before a midnight deadline.
After hours of delay, the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29. But the House of Representatives is on recess and is not expected to analyze the measure until Monday (2), according to an aide to the Republican leadership who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This partial shutdown came into effect at 00:01 ET (05:01 GMT).
The shutdown will likely be brief. Lawmakers from both parties have worked to ensure that the debate over immigration enforcement does not disrupt other government operations. That represents a stark contrast to last fall, when Republicans and Democrats entrenched their positions in a dispute over health care, leading to a shutdown that lasted a record 43 days and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion.
Debate over immigration enforcement tactics
According to the Congressional Research Servicethe government has suffered 10 funding outages of three days or less since 1977, most of which have had little practical effect.
The agreement approved by the Senate would separate financing from Department of Homeland Security of the broader funding package, allowing lawmakers to approve spending for agencies like the Pentagon and the Department of Labor as they consider new restrictions on federal immigration agents.
Democratic senators, enraged by the killing of a second American citizen by immigration agents in Minneapolis last weekend, threatened to withhold the funding package in an attempt to force Trump to rein in the DHS (Department of Homeland Security)which oversees the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Democrats want to end mobile patrols, require officers to wear body cameras and ban them from wearing face masks. They also want to require immigration agents to obtain a search warrant from a judge rather than their own superiors. Republicans say they are open to some of these ideas.
The would be extended by two weeks, giving negotiators time to reach agreement on immigration strategies.
The shooting death of nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents on Saturday sparked widespread public outrage, prompting the Trump administration to scale back operations in the region. Pretti’s death was the second this month of a U.S. citizen with no criminal record involving immigration law enforcement officials.
