In the wake of an armed assault on a Metro Detroit synagogue, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan has shifted her stance regarding the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. On Friday, Slotkin called for the immediate funding of the agency she described as “essential,” just one day after voting to continue the funding freeze.
The policy shift followed an incident at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, where authorities say Ayman Mohamed Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, rammed his vehicle into the building.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard reported that Ghazali’s trunk contained explosives and that the suspect died at the scene following a shootout with the synagogue’s security team.
Slotkin had previously joined fellow Democrats in blocking DHS appropriations following the January shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis involving immigration enforcement.
In a January 31 statement, she explicitly cited those events as the reason for her opposition to the funding. However, during a press conference on Friday, Slotkin emphasized the local impact of the shutdown and the necessity of the department’s core missions.
“I would say the department, because they are essential workers, they have been at work,” Slotkin said. “Certainly in Michigan, we have a ton of DHS folks, CBP and so they are on the call and they are doing their jobs. Certainly, we need to fund the Department of Homeland Security and we need, in my view, to cut away all the conversation on ICE, which is its own conversation, from all of the core missions at the Department of Homeland Security.”
The legislative deadlock in the Senate remains centered on immigration reform. While Democrats have pushed for new restrictions on how enforcement officers interact with private property, Republican staffers have indicated the GOP will not negotiate on policies that interfere with the mission of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
To date, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania remains the only Democrat to support the full-year appropriations bill for the department. READ: Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman Blasts ‘Toxic’ Party Politics As DHS Workers Remain Unpaid
Beyond security concerns, the funding lapse is creating operational strain across the country. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has urged lawmakers to end the shutdown as spring break travelers face mounting delays at airports. This marks the third time in six months that TSA employees have been required to work without a paycheck.
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