Dems plan: Completely defund ICE in just 10 days
The House voted Tuesday to end a four-day partial government shutdown, but lawmakers immediately face a new crisis.
The Department of Homeland Security is funded for only 10 more days, and Democrats are pushing for all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity to be halted and defunded.
Of course, ICE already has substantial funding. Last summer, Congress allocated $75 billion to ICE over four years as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill spending act.
This means ICE could manage to continue operations even without the additional $10 billion base funding now under debate. Instead, a Democrat-led shutdown would mean other vital DHS agencies including FEMA, the Coast Guard, TSA, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could face defunding, furloughs, and reduced operations.
The House narrowly passed the partial funding package 217-214, sending it to President Donald Trump to sign into law. The legislation provides full-year funding through September for most federal agencies, but DHS received only a temporary extension through February 13.
Senate Democrats forced the separation of DHS funding from the larger package, demanding sweeping reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to stop the deportation of illegal immigrants across the country.
Rioters have clashed with ICE agents and attempted to disrupt their operations in numerous cities, leading to at least two deaths so far.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted it’s unlikely that Congress can reach agreement before DHS is out of funding.
“We’ve got a very short timeframe to do this,” Thune said Thursday. “Anybody who knows this place knows that it’s an impossibility.”
Sen. John Kennedy offered an even bleaker assessment.
“I think that the effort to come up with a budget for DHS will be about as productive and efficient as an eighth grade car wash,” Kennedy said last week.
The $64 billion DHS funding bill has become the most contentious piece of the government funding puzzle. Democrats want ICE and Border Patrol to be either defunded or completely revamped, while Republicans accuse Democrats of attempting to hamstring law enforcement.
Roger Marshall said it’s a part of Democratic Party’s open border policy.
“The frustration here is, once again, the Republicans are the party of law and order. The Democrats are the party of defund the police,” Marshall said. “This is the next chapter in the Democrats refusing to fund DHS, refusing to fund the police enforcement right now.”
President Trump has endorsed the current deal and urged Congress to pass it without changes. He posted on Truth Social urging bipartisan support.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump wrote. “Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”