Democrats push to fund DHS but leave ICE out of partial shutdown deal
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As the partial government shutdown extends past the one-month mark, Democrats are asking lawmakers to scale back funding cuts to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while keeping the agency from being at the center of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.
According to them, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may remain closed.
“We’ve already said in the department that we’re going to open up everything except ICE, so the answer is yes,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said when asked about partial funding for DHS.
“Republicans will disagree because they are trying to hold the security of the country hostage.”
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Capitol Hill, left, pictured next to ICE agents on the right. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images; Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune)
His stance was echoed by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
“We need to fund every aspect outside of ICE. We’re going to fight on ICE funding. I mean, they already have $75 billion,” Khanna said, noting that ICE already received funding through Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
In light of these appropriations, Republicans believe they have taken an unsustainable position as they continue to stall Democrats’ efforts to fully fund DHS.
“They’re not interested in reopening, right? The whole point is, ‘OK, we’re going in there and doing a closure to impact ICE and Border Patrol.’ But ICE and Border Patrol are not even the ones affected by this shutdown. “They are funded by the One Big, Beautiful Bill that was passed previously,” said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla.
“How long do I foresee Democrats lying to their base? Forever,” Mast added.
Calls for the implementation of a partial funding halt have grown louder since the initial start of the shutdown.
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U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC, USA on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Funding for DHS expired on Feb. 14, when Democrats refused to advance spending legislation for DHS that did not include a set of demands to reform ICE. Democrats conditioned their support on a mask ban for ICE agents, stricter warrant requirements to apprehend suspects in public and a ban on patrols, among other changes.
Republicans rejected the demands, arguing they would handcuff President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement targets.
Republicans need at least seven Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster in the Senate, where they hold just 53 seats.
That standoff coincided with a series of domestic attacks, raising alarm among Republicans that shutting down DHS could reduce the nation’s preparedness for similar threats.
A vehicle crash at a synagogue in Michigan, a college shooting in Virginia, attempted detonations in New York, and another shooting in Texas caused members like Seth Magaziner, DI, to join calls to pass non-ICE DHS funding.
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A Brazilian citizen has been charged in Florida for allegedly creating a fake government agency and selling fake DHS and FBI ID cards that he claimed would grant him immunity from immigration enforcement. (Photo: Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
“If it takes more time to negotiate these changes to ICE, then the right thing to do is to fund DHS, TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, counterterrorism, and the rest of them while we continue to negotiate on ICE,” Magaziner said.
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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he is also on board.
“We are ready, willing and able to approve funding for TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard through a separate bill that we proposed and Republicans rejected. There is an easy solution here,” Blumenthal said.
