Senate Democrats are threatening to shut down the government again, this time claiming that “reforms” must be made to the Department of Homeland Security before they will approve spending that includes DHS appropriations. Specifically, the party of the Left is demanding that the law be changed so federal law enforcement officials must get a judicial warrant before arresting any illegal immigrants. This is a clever and cynical demand that would functionally end all interior immigration enforcement, which has always been the Democratic Party’s goal.

Under current law, specifically 8 USC 1226, immigration enforcement personnel may obtain an administrative warrant to “arrest and detain” an alien not authorized to be in the United States. Furthermore, regulation 8 CFR § 287.5 empowers certain named immigration officials, including Border Patrol watch commanders, to issue such arrest warrants. This is not a new power. This is how interior immigration law has been enforced for decades.