Congress has a fortnight to establish new funding constraints for ICE before DHS faces another shutdown.
Congress has a fortnight to establish new funding constraints for ICE before DHS faces another shutdown.
On Friday night, the Senate voted to approve the federal budget, financing all agencies except for one: the Department of Homeland Security, which received a two-week funding extension to negotiate new boundaries surrounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Without a consensus, DHS funding will cease and the department will confront a closure.
The deal — resulting from intense discussions among a unified Senate Democrat caucus, their Republican allies, and the White House — passed 71-29. However, DHS will stay unfunded over the weekend until the House of Representatives reconvenes on Monday to approve the new temporary bill.
This marks a remarkable shift in the DHS funding bill’s trajectory, which was anticipated to pass the Senate with several moderate Democrat votes, despite robust opposition regarding its ongoing funding of ICE. However, following the death of Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents during a Minneapolis protest, Senate Democrats unanimously declared their refusal to support continued funding for DHS without significant reforms to ICE, necessitating negotiations with the Trump administration to keep the government operational. (This would have marked the second government shutdown within less than a year.)
While the Democratic caucus frequently faces fragmentation, the political climate was advantageous for them. A survey conducted by the Democrat-aligned Senate Majority PAC indicated that a substantial majority of voters supported the Democrats forcing a partial government shutdown over reforms to ICE, placing the accountability on the Republicans if the government remained inoperative.
