DHS deal in limbo as Democrats demand tougher ICE crackdown despite GOP compromise

By Fox News · Fox News

Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ latest offer to reopen Homeland Security, despite the deal giving them much of what they asked for. Senate Republicans crafted a framework to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after meeting with President Donald Trump earlier in the week that would carve out immigration enforcement funding and include some reforms to immigration operations. It mirrors a similar proposal that Democrats tried to advance on the Senate floor twice during the shutdown, which entered its 39th day on Wednesday. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats aren’t satisfied with the latest offer, which is still being finalized. SENATE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO REOPEN DHS WITH NEW PLAN, WAIT FOR DEMOCRATIC BUY-IN "Negotiations are ongoing, and they've sent us an offer," Schumer said. "And we'll be sending them an offer back. And I can assure you it will contain significant reform in it." But by Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats had yet to send an offer to Republicans. After meeting with Trump and hoping that they had a workable deal, Republicans are now frustrated that Democrats are balking. "We finally just said, ‘Stop. We'll just fund everything but [ Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) ],’" Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital. "That's what you said you wanted at the beginning. Let's do that." "That's what we're doing," he continued. "So no extra language, no extra playing with it. We're doing just the baseline. We don't like it. They don't like it. It opens everything up and gets everybody funded again." CORNYN TARGETS LAWMAKERS’ AIRPORT FAST PASS AS TSA LINES GROW DURING DHS SHUTDOWN Republicans’ framework also hit a snag on Tuesday when Trump acknowledged that the GOP was getting "fairly close, but I think any deal they make, I’m pretty much not happy with it." Democrats still want stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) baked into any deal and have shut down previous offers…