Pete Aguilar

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said that ICE has tons of money and “The president would have the ability, likely, to declare that they need to continue operating.”

Aguilar said, “$75 billion for ICE in the one big, ugly bill that you referenced…that’s seven times the ICE budget. The president would have the ability, likely, to declare that they need to continue operating. But they can use other funding. They can use that one-time funding. We are not — I am not going to offer my vote for ICE and CBP to continue the status quo that allows them to terrorize communities, to beat down doors, to rip people out of cars, and to shoot U.S. citizens. I’m just not going to do it, and my colleagues aren’t going to do it either. And so, we can continue to have that discussion about having real accountability to these agencies that mirrors every other law enforcement agency in this country, we can continue to have that fight, and we should, while allowing the other pieces of the Department of Homeland Security to continue. If my Republican colleagues choose to shut down Homeland Security, then they’re choosing that path. They’re choosing to shut down TSA, they’re choosing air traffic control disruption, and they’re choosing lapsing funding for the Coast Guard.”

Earlier, he stated, “[T]he lead Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, just this morning put out language…I would encourage my Republican colleagues to think about that. It would ensure that we have continuous operations for FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, CISA, cybersecurity, all of these agencies that are engaged in actual homeland security, those should be funded through the continuation — through the remainder of the fiscal year.”