Michigan’s two U.S. Senators are falling in line with the rank-and-file, vowing to vote against a bill that would fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats have once again threatened to shut the government down as an act of defiance against the Trump administration.
U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, and Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, joined the chorus of Democrats calling for cutting off funding for DHS and pushing a one-sided story about immigration operations in the city.
Peters shared on X that he will vote no because the bill lacks the necessary reforms to immigration enforcement.
I will be voting no on the DHS funding bill because it lacks necessary reforms to immigration enforcement.
DHS’ current immigration enforcement operations are not protecting our homeland security or making American communities safer. They are causing chaos and fear. They are…
— Senator Gary Peters (@SenGaryPeters) January 25, 2026
“DHS’s current immigration enforcement operations are not protecting our homeland security or making American communities safer,” Peters wrote. “They are causing chaos and fear. They are violating Americans’ constitutional rights. We need stronger guardrails and accountability.”
Six annual spending bills await action in the Senate, including the appropriations bill for DHS which funds U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, among others.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 22 passed a package of annual spending bills for the current budget year. House members held a separate vote on the DHS funding bill, which ultimately passed 220-207.
After passing the House, the spending bills were combined into a broader spending package in the Senate that includes all six remaining spending bills, totaling over $1.2 trillion in federal spending.
Republican U.S. House members have taken a more level-headed approach, with Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga posting on X on Sunday:
“As we see an organized opposition to federal law enforcement in Minnesota, it is important to remember we need the facts to emerge,” he said. “While emotions are no doubt high, a congressional hearing is a place where federal, state, and local community leaders can be heard. I believe Congress can conduct oversight and lead a facts-based discussion.”
As we see an organized opposition to federal law enforcement in Minnesota, it is important to remember we need the facts to emerge.
While emotions are no doubt high, a congressional hearing is a place where federal, state, and local community leaders can be heard. I believe…
— Rep. Bill Huizenga (@RepHuizenga) January 26, 2026
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, announced Monday that Senate Democrats are prepared to pass five government funding bills — but not funding for DHS — to prevent a replay of what happened last fall and avoid a full-blown government shut down at the end of the week, The Hill reported.
Using similar tactics as her Democratic colleagues, Slotkin blamed President Donald Trump for escalating “violence against the people of Minnesota.”
“This is part of a continued, coordinated assault on our Constitutional rights — with specific focus on individuals and groups who disagree with this President,” Slotkin said in a statement on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have repeatedly encouraged residents to actively resist, impede and record ICE and Border Patrol agents. In May, Walz called ICE Trump’s “modern-day gestapo” during a graduation speech at the University of Minnesota.
Last week, speaking behind his gated home at the Governor’s mansion, he encouraged residents to keep causing trouble and fighting ICE.
At a press conference over the weekend, Walz compared ICE actions in Minnesota to the Holocaust and “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank.
“As all Americans can see with their own eyes, ICE and those under their command are not acting as responsible law enforcement agencies,” Slotkin claimed, ignoring the coordinated resistance effort to impede ICE in Minneapolis. “They are recklessly inciting violence at the whims of the President.”
Rep. Shri Thanedar, representing Michigan’s 13th District, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, representing Michigan’s 12th District, have called on Congress to abolish ICE.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., criticized ICE last week and also flipped the script, saying it needs “dramatic reform” and calling it a “lawless” agency.
“I’ve said repeatedly that I will not support one dime of funding for Trump’s lawless ICE operations,” Van Hollen shared with news clip on social media. “The funding bill released today fails to sufficiently rein them in or ensure people’s rights are protected.”
His anti-ICE media appearances came days after news broke that four suspected MS-13 gang members had murdered a 14-year-old boy with a machete in Prince George’s County — the county he represents.
Van Hollen also rallied for alleged MS-13 gang member, wife beater and human smuggler Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, the “Maryland dad” who was deported to El Salvador but returned last June.
DHS confirmed that three of the four suspects are MS-13 gang members and were previously arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., but were released back into American communities.
All three MS-13 gang members were previously arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. but were RELEASED back into American communities.@ICEgov should have been notified after their arrests. Now a 14-year-old boy from Maryland is dead. pic.twitter.com/1pznSUbhwX
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 22, 2026
Both House and Senate Democrats have used the unrest in Minneapolis as leverage and called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment. If senators fail to act by midnight Friday, funding for Homeland Security and the other agencies covered under the six bills will lapse, the Associated Press reported.
