Virginia Democrats dig in on DHS funding line despite ISIS-linked shooting at ODU, illegal immigrant murder

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Virginia’s Democratic senators aren’t budging from their position against funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without reforms, despite a deadly shooting involving a suspect with links to ISIS.

Sens.Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., have both consistently voted with Senate Minority LeaderChuck Schumer,D-N.Y., and their colleagues against the GOP’s attempts to reopen the agency in their push for stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Senate Republicans have warned of the necessity to reopen DHS out of concern about an increase interrorist activityin the U.S.following Operation Epic Fury in Iran.

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY SHOOTER IDENTIFIED AS MOHAMED JALLOH, FORMER NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER, ISIS SUPPORTER

Sens.Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., are both sticking by Democrats’ DHS funding demands despite a deadly shooting at ODU with a suspect linked to ISIS and the alleged murder of a Virginia resident by an illegal immigrant. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.via Getty Images;Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

That became a reality on Thursday when the FBI announced it was investigating the shooting at Old Dominion University, which left one person dead and two others wounded, as an act of terrorism after identifying the alleged shooter as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard who was convicted of supporting ISIS.

Kaine argued that Senate Democrats have repeatedly tried to reopen chunks of the agency, either through a bill that carved out funding for ICE and CBP or through standalone funding bills that Republicans have blocked.

“Senate Democrats have repeatedly moved to fund — and Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked — TSA, CISA, the Coast Guard and other entities within DHS that help keep us safe,�

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Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, the individual identified as the alleged shooter at ODU on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images;The Intercept)

�heartbroken by the loss of Lt.Col.Brandon A.Shah” and lauded theOld Dominion University studentswho subdued Jalloh.

But he pointed the finger at FBI DirectorKash Patelfor playing a role in the incident and demanded that Patel “answer for how the FBI lost track of a known, convicted terrorist sympathizer who was then able to get his hands on a gun and murder an American citizen.”

“Following Director Patel’s mass firings of experiencedFBI agents and counterterrorism experts,this tragedy emphasizes serious concerns about whether his leadership has left Americans more vulnerable to threats,” Warner said.

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Stephanie Minter, 41, and Abdul Jalloh, 32

Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop.

Separately, the lawmakers panned ICE’s handling of Abdul Jalloh, who was charged with themurder of Virginia resident Stephanie Minterearlier this year.

When asked if Virginia counties should have cooperated with ICE to detain Jalloh, anillegal immigrantwith a rap sheet of 30 arrests dating back to 2014, Kaine countered, “How about ICE cooperating with counties?”

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“ICE had this guy repeatedly and let him go,” Kaine said.“And so should counties do more?Yeah, but what about ICE?Why would ICE, beginning in, like, 2017, 2018 — and that was during Trump’s presidency — not take cases like this seriously?”

Warner called her murder a tragedy and said, “No one can doubt the fact that somebody who has been arrested 30 timesshould not be in this country.”

S.Senate.