Democratic Rep. Walkinshaw: 'Common sense' ICE reforms were left out of funding bill

Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., arrives for a House Oversight Committee closed-door interview with former prison guard Tova Noel on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 18. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption

The Republican-controlled House on Tuesday narrowly passed a roughly $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill, massively expanding resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of President Trump's term.

Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Virginia Democrat who sits on the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees, told Morning Edition that Democrats unsuccessfully pushed for changes such as limits on face coverings, body camera requirements and clearer use-of-force standards.

"Democrats put forward common sense reforms to just put some guardrails on ICE and CBP, and what we said is these agencies should operate like any other law enforcement agency," Walkinshaw said. "Republicans, led primarily by Stephen Miller at the White House, rejected all of that."

He said Democrats will continue to rely on oversight tools, including committee hearings, investigations by the Government Accountability Office and DHS inspector general, and court challenges to immigration enforcement actions.

"We're going to continue to see Democrats aggressively using committee hearings to ask tough questions of ICE and CBP leadership," Walkinshaw said.

Listen to the full interview by clicking on the blue play button above.