John Fetterman Bucks Democrats On ICE As Country Barrels Toward Likely Shutdown

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman broke with his party Monday by rejecting calls from Democrats to defund or abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration authorities.

Fetterman, a moderate Democrat, said he opposed a lapse in funding for federal immigration authorities following the killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday. Lawmakers are up against a Jan. 30 deadline to fund ICE and various government agencies, but Fetterman said he would not join Democrats if they attempt to force a government shutdown.

“I will never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department,” Fetterman said in a statement on social media. “Additionally, a vote to shut our government down will not defund ICE. DHS has $178B [billion] in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which I did not vote for.”

Fetterman’s response noted that failing to pass the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill would not impede ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from continuing their work due to tens of billions those agencies received in Republicans’ tax and spending cut law in July 2025. Instead, a lapse in DHS appropriations would likely negatively affect the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), whose funding would expire.

“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE,” Fetterman continued, adding that he disagreed with the tactics that federal immigration authorities have used during their Minneapolis operation and that agents should leave the city. President Donald Trump said Monday that ICE’s work would continue in Minneapolis and announced that Border Czar Tom Homan would take over operations.

The DHS funding bill narrowly passed the House with a handful of Democrat votes on Thursday, but faces an uphill battle in the Senate due to Democrats’ opposition following Pretti’s killing over the weekend. Several House Democrats who supported the DHS bill have publicly apologized for voting “yes” or railed against DHS secretary Kristi Noem in recent days.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Sunday that Democrats would filibuster any appropriations bill that contains funding for ICE.

The homeland security bill was sent to the Senate within a larger package of five additional appropriations bills. Schumer has floated passing the non-DHS funding bills ahead of a Jan. 30 shutdown deadline, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not agreed to removing the DHS bill from the funding package.

Fetterman could be the lone Senate Democrat who crosses party lines to support the House-passed DHS funding bill if Thune puts the measure up for a vote.

Fetterman said he wants to discuss “stripping” the DHS measure from the government funding package, but suggested he would vote to keep government operations funded regardless of the homeland security bill’s inclusion.

“It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman was one of three Democrats who refused to join Schumer’s hardball tactics during the record-breaking shutdown in Fall 2025.

The left-wing Working Families Party rolled out a campaign to field a primary challenger against Fetterman in mid-January, citing his record of bipartisanship and refusal to join Democrats’ government shutdown push. The maverick senator is not up for reelection until 2028.