Congressman Cohen Works to Fund Critical DHS Agencies While Insisting on ICE and CBP Reforms

WASHINGTON - Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), a cosponsor of legislation that would fund critical agencies like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Coast Guard and other DHS components, vowed to sign a discharge petition to force a vote on the measure. At the same time, Congressman Cohen continued to insist that any funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) be contingent on significant policy reforms guaranteeing civil rights and transparency.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

"Republicans shut down large parts of the DHS because they insisted on pouring billions more into ICE and Trump's mass deportation machine without reforming procedures that have already led to American citizens' deaths and economic disruptions across the country.

"Now TSA lines are out the door, travel is slowing to a crawl, critical agencies like FEMA, the Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are all stuck in limbo, and thousands of federal employees are working without pay. This is all because the GOP refuses to reopen the rest of DHS unless Congress keeps shoveling taxpayer dollars to ICE - an agency that isn't just killing American citizens while lying about targeting the 'worst of the worst,' but is actively making it more difficult to apprehend the 'worst of the worst' by recruiting local police officers away from real law enforcement agencies.

"I've co-sponsored legislation to reopen TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and CISA without funding ICE, and this week I'll sign the discharge petition to force a vote. We can reopen the parts of DHS that protect the public without writing another blank check to ICE."

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