Left-wing politicians spent years telling Americans that ICE agents are jackbooted thugs running concentration camps.
Now a woman is dead after she hit a federal agent with her vehicle in Minneapolis, and Democrats are using her death to try abolishing the agency entirely.
Nearly 100 House Democrats just declared they'll vote against any Department of Homeland Security funding unless Trump surrenders control of the border.
Ilhan Omar Exploits Minneapolis ICE Shooting To Defund ICE
Rep. Ilhan Omar stood at a press conference January 13 with a photo of Renee Good behind her.
"Our caucus members will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriations bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices," the Minnesota Democrat announced.
Omar represents the district where an ICE agent shot 37-year-old Good on January 7.
Good had blocked a residential street with her Honda Pilot while federal agents conducted an operation nearby.
When the agent approached her vehicle, Good put the car in drive and struck him.
The agent suffered internal bleeding to his torso from the impact.
He fired three shots as Good's vehicle drove at him.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reviewed the evidence and called it justified self-defense.
The agent, a 10-year ICE veteran and Iraq War combat veteran, was hospitalized and released the same day.
His family is now receiving death threats, which is why DHS won't release his name publicly.
But Omar and the Congressional Progressive Caucus aren't interested in facts.
They took an official vote to defund immigration enforcement.
That's nearly 100 House Democrats holding the entire government hostage to abolish ICE.
The Left Created This Crisis
Good wasn't some random bystander caught in crossfire.
She was acting as a self-appointed "legal observer" for anti-ICE activists.
Her partner was filming federal agents and taunting them minutes before the shooting.
The neighborhood had been conducting organized "whistle campaigns" to alert residents when immigration officers arrived.
This is what happens when Democrats spend years radicalizing ordinary people into thinking they're fighting fascism.
Mayor Jacob Frey, Governor Tim Walz, and the entire Minnesota Democratic establishment told their constituents that ICE agents are Gestapo.
They told them resistance is heroic.
They told them blocking federal law enforcement is righteous civil disobedience.
Now a woman is dead because she believed them, and an Iraq War veteran who survived combat is getting death threats for defending himself.
And instead of reconsidering the insane rhetoric that led to this tragedy, Democrats are doubling down.
January 30 Government Shutdown Deadline Looms Over DHS Funding Fight
Negotiators just unveiled a $1.2 trillion spending package that funds DHS, the Department of War, Labor, and Health and Human Services.
The bill keeps ICE's $10 billion appropriation from last year.
It adds $20 million for body cameras and new de-escalation training requirements.
That's not enough for progressives who want ICE abolished completely.
Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose two Republican votes with his razor-thin House majority.
He lost Rep. Doug LaMalfa to death and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to resignation this month.
If the Progressive Caucus votes no and takes moderate Democrats with them, the bill dies.
Government funding expires January 30.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, top Democrat on House Appropriations, tried to calm the waters without endorsing the bill.
"I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE," she said in a statement Tuesday.
"I share their frustration with the out-of-control agency."
Out of control.
An agency doing exactly what Congress mandated it to do—enforcing immigration law—is "out of control" because Democrats don't like the laws anymore.
Then came the warning progressives don't want to hear.
"If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed and the U.S. Coast Guard will be adversely affected."
Democrats are willing to shut down airport security and disaster relief because one woman drove her vehicle into a federal agent in Minneapolis.
Democrats' Partial Shutdown Threat Won't Stop Trump Deportations
Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer don't want a shutdown either.
They remember the 35-day disaster in 2018-2019 that cost $11 billion and still didn't stop Trump.
Here's the brutal math progressives are ignoring: Trump already won.
His "big beautiful bill" passed last summer injected $75 billion into ICE over four years.
The agency is sitting on the biggest slush fund in its history.
A shutdown doesn't cut off that money.
Neither does a continuing resolution that maintains current spending levels.
"ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither a CR nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it, because, thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap whether or not we pass a funding bill," Sen. Patty Murray admitted in a statement Tuesday.
Trump can keep deporting illegal immigrants whether progressives fund DHS or not.
The only leverage Democrats have is passing a full-year bill that lets them add restrictions.
"The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality," Murray continued.
She's calling Trump lawless for enforcing immigration law while defending activists who physically blocked federal agents.
Walk away from negotiations and Trump gets a free hand.
Government shutdowns in 2013 and 2018-2019 proved one thing: ICE and Border Patrol are designated essential and keep operating.
During the longest shutdown in history, immigration enforcement didn't stop for a single day.
Federal contractors got delayed payments and TSA agents worked without paychecks, but ICE kept making arrests.
That's the Progressive Caucus's real problem here.
They're threatening to shut down airport security and disaster relief to make a point about an agency that will keep running anyway.
The nearly 100-member caucus is walking into a trap where they tank DHS funding, ICE keeps deporting people, and Republicans blame Democrats when FEMA can't respond to the next hurricane.
The last time Democrats tried using immigration as shutdown leverage was January 2018.
They demanded protections for DACA recipients.
The government shut down for three days.
Democrats caved completely and got nothing.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Pushes Abolish ICE Agenda After Renee Good Death
Since Good's death, the left has revealed what this fight is really about.
State legislatures nationwide introduced bills to block ICE cooperation.
Progressive Caucus member Rep. Jimmy Gomez introduced legislation to strip Trump's $75 billion immigration funding and redirect it to affordable housing.
The caucus endorsed that bill.
Read that again: Democrats want to take money allocated for deporting illegal immigrants and spend it on government housing programs.
That's the real agenda here.
Good's death is just the excuse they needed to push legislation they've wanted all along.
Republicans Should Call Their Bluff
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole said he's ready to get the spending package across the finish line.
He shouldn't negotiate with hostage-takers.
Republicans are watching Democrats defend someone who drove her vehicle at a federal agent while demanding those same agents be defunded.
If progressives force a shutdown, Republicans will run ads showing TSA lines wrapped around airports while Democrats explain why they care more about illegal immigrants than American travelers.
If progressives cave and vote for DHS funding, their base will savage them for betraying the resistance.
Either way, Trump wins.
The spending bill hits the House floor later this week.
Omar and her allies have days to decide if they're serious about this threat.
Every shutdown since 1995 has ended the same way: with the party that forced it taking the political blame and giving up more than they gained.
Democrats spent years telling their voters that resisting ICE is heroic.
Now one of those voters is dead, a combat veteran is getting death threats for defending himself, and instead of admitting their rhetoric has consequences, Democrats are using this tragedy to push the same radical agenda that caused it.
That's not governance.
That's exploitation.
Sources:
- Leo Briceno, Elizabeth Elkind, Alex Miller, "Congress unveils $1.2T spending bill as progressive revolt brews over ICE funding," Fox News, January 20, 2026.
- Alexis McAdams, "ICE agent suffered internal bleeding after Renee Good's vehicle struck him: DHS," Fox News, January 15, 2026.
- Arthur Delaney, "Democrats Back DHS Funding Bill With Modest Curbs On ICE," HuffPost, January 20, 2026.
- Associated Press, "Senate passes more spending bills, but Homeland Security dispute looms," Federal News Network, January 16, 2026.
- Congressional Progressive Caucus, "Progressive Caucus Demands No New Funding for DHS Immigration Enforcement Until Reforms," Press Release, January 13, 2026.
