NPR | Monday, January 26, 2026 
In the wake of Alex Pretti’s death, Congress appears on track for a partial shutdown

The second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis is raising the prospect of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week. Senate Democrats say they will not vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without new guardrails for immigration enforcement. But that opposition may also torpedo the larger $1.3 trillion dollar spending package needed to keep large swaths of the federal government operational past Friday night. “The appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on Sunday. “People should be safe from abuse by their own government.” Democrats were already raising alarms about the conduct of immigration officers before the latest killing in Minneapolis on Saturday. Last week, all but seven House Democrats voted against the funding bill covering homeland security, which includes money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. At the time, a few Senate Democrats also pledged to vote against the funding when it reached them this week, though the response across the Capitol was far from the near-unified opposition in the House. That is because the House sent the DHS funding over to the Senate tied together with billions in spending for…Read more