By Richard Cowan and David Morgan
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that federal immigration agents must lose their masks and observe other new
restrictions as he outlined conditions that his party is seeking to extend government funding beyond a Saturday deadline.
Schumer said agents with the Department of Homeland Security must also wear body cameras, observe the same use-of-force rules as local police and be subject to tighter rules requiring search warrants.
Democrats say they will not agree to extend DHS funding without new limits on President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. The agency's arm responsible for deportations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has come under widespread criticism after agents killed a second U.S. citizen in Minneapolis last Saturday.
"What ICE is doing is state sanctioned thuggery. It must stop," Schumer said at a news conference.
Large swaths of the U.S. government could shut down this weekend if Republicans and Democrats do not reach a deal on immigration. DHS funding is tied up in a broader spending bill that also covers the Defense Department, the Transportation Department, and several other agencies.
It is not clear whether Republican lawmakers or the Trump administration would agree to the Democrats' proposals.
"The White House has had no specific, good concrete ideas," Schumer said.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; editing by Scott Malone, Andy Sullivan and Diane Craft)
