Republican lawmakers are demanding Democrats end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of a mass shooting perpetrated by a suspected terrorist in Austin, Texas.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, who investigators believe could be an Islamic terrorist, killed two people and injured 14 others in Austin, Texas.
DHS has been shutdown since appropriations lapsed on Feb. 14. Democrats have prevented multiple efforts to fund the department with homeland security responsibilities that range from immigration to disaster relief and have made Immigration and Customs Enforcement reforms a precondition to more funding.
Democrat demands include limiting immigration enforcement near voting locations and allowing states to sue the agency.
“Democrats are putting Americans at risk by keeping the Department of Homeland Security shut down,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., told The Daily Signal.
Diagne—a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal and lived in Pflugerville, Texas—allegedly opened fire at an Austin-area bar while wearing a hoodie that read “Property of Allah.” He was shot and killed by responding officers.
Investigators believe the motivation for the shooting could be tied to the ongoing U.S. military operation against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
President Donald Trump announced Operation Epic Fury, an intense military campaign against the Iranian regime, in the early hours of Saturday morning. The joint U.S.-Israel operation has resulted in an escalation of military force in the region and the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“With the threat level increasing from Iran and their terrorist proxies than ever before, Democrats must join Republicans in opening our DHS,” Barr said.
Barr added that by keeping the department shutdown, Democrats are “aiding and abetting terrorists trying to attack the United States.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., posted on X that Democrats are “putting our country at heightened risk, in the midst of mounting threats,” by refusing to fund DHS.
“Democrats need to do their job and reopen DHS,” Johnson added. “This is not a game.”
Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, recently told The Daily Signal that there are concerns that attacks similar to the Austin shooting could soon emerge.
“We’ve got a lot of terrorists in our country,” Self said. “We know we have we know they’re here. These guys that get a wild hair, they’re dangerous, and they kill people.”
Some members of Congress fear that the hostilities in the Middle East could make it to America’s shores.
Self added that the “sleeper cells,” which are defined as “a hidden group or individual awaiting activation for a specific purpose,” are “really dangerous ones” that Americans need to keep an eye out for.
They “have training and know what they’re doing,” Self added.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., had choice words for Republicans pressuring Democrats to reopen DHS. “So, the Republicans are saying that, because they launched an illegal, disastrous war in Iran, we should give them permission to continue using ICE to murder American citizens, to allow them to get the funding to tear gas schools?” Murphy told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
“No, we need to stand up for the American citizens that ICE is murdering, the kids that they are terrorizing,” Murphy added. “They should stop this illegal war and they should stop ICE from terrorizing our communities. We should demand that they do both things.”
A bulletin from DHS reviewed by ABC News on Sunday showed that the department had also directed its agents to stay on heightened alert before the death of Iran’s leadership was confirmed.
“Although a large-scale physical attack is unlikely, Iran and its proxies probably pose a persistent threat of targeted attacks in the Homeland and will almost certainly escalate retaliatory actions—or calls to action—if reports of the Ayatollah’s death are confirmed,” the bulletin reads.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X on Saturday that he instructed counterterrorism and intelligence teams to “be on high alert and mobilize all assisting security assets needed.”
