By A violent attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue has reignited debate in Washington over funding the Department of Homeland Security, with Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin urging lawmakers Friday to restore full funding to the agency she called essential.
The push came a day after a dramatic incident at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, where authorities say a man drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the synagogue before opening fire and being killed by security personnel.
Investigators identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon who became a citizen in 2016. According to authorities, Ghazali rammed the synagogue building with the explosive-laden vehicle and then exchanged gunfire with security officers before being fatally shot at the scene. The vehicle caught fire shortly afterward when something inside ignited.
Mike Bouchard said the attack occurred while the synagogue’s early childhood center was in session, with roughly 140 children inside the facility. No children, staff members, or bystanders were seriously injured, though several security personnel and first responders suffered minor injuries during the confrontation.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security characterized the incident as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community, noted The Daily Caller. Investigators are examining possible motives, including reports that Ghazali had recently lost family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, though officials have not announced a final determination.
At a press conference Friday, Slotkin addressed the attack while discussing the ongoing partial shutdown affecting DHS operations.
“I would say the department, because they are essential workers, they have been at work,” she stated. “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. But they’re essential, they are on the job and they are working today.”
Senate Democrats, including Slotkin, have voted four times over the past month to block Homeland Security funding because the bills include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Fox News explained that the two Democrats, Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, are currently representing the state of Michigan in the U.S. Senate and both have so far voiced opposition to re-opening DHS.
The three top Democrats running in the August 4 primary to replace the retiring Peters struck a different tone than Rogers when contacted by Fox News Digital about their support of funding DHS.
Progressive Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed by Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, did not specify how he would vote on DHS funding but told Fox News Digital that “if the Trump administration were serious about keeping Americans safe from terror, they would not be funding ICE at a level higher than the FBI, cutting counterterrorism funding, or keeping the FBI from informing local law enforcement about terror threats that emerge from their illegal and unjustified war.”
“Let’s not confuse issues.”
The shutdown has stretched on for weeks, disrupting parts of the department including the Transportation Security Administration and contributing to long security lines at airports during spring break travel. TSA officials have warned that the situation could worsen if lawmakers fail to reach an agreement.
The impasse stems largely from disputes over immigration enforcement, mostly that the Trump administration wants to do it while Democrats would prefer lax security and less protection for ICE officers. Democrats, for example, have pressed for reforms that would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to forgo masks during operations and obtain warrants that go beyond the warrants they already receive to deport illegal immigrants.
In recent votes, only John Fetterman among Senate Democrats supported a full-year DHS appropriations measure.
Slotkin’s earlier opposition to DHS funding in late January followed controversial immigration enforcement protests in Minneapolis that ended with two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, being fatally shot.
Meanwhile, the synagogue attack has heightened concerns about rising antisemitism across the country. Gretchen Whitmer and other officials condemned the violence as an act of hate, while Jewish community leaders have called for stronger security measures at religious institutions nationwide, but blamed “online rhetoric” not radical Islam for the attack, a move that echoed Obama’s arrest of a Youtuber after the Benghazi attack of 2012.
Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer is blaming "online rhetoric" as the reason why Islamic radicals from Dearborn are carrying out terrorist attacks.
Unreal pic.twitter.com/UElxRHzpzt
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 13, 2026
The Senate has yet to resolve the funding standoff, leaving thousands of TSA employees and other DHS personnel working without pay for the third time in recent months.
[Read More: Cuba Shock As Leader Lets In FBI]
