Democrats are pushing to fund DHS but leave ICE without a partial shutdown deal
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As the partial government shutdown passes the one-month mark, Democrats want lawmakers to cut the size of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding — while leaving out the agency at the heart of Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in their view, can remain closed.
“We have already said that we will open everything in the department except for ICE, so the answer is yes,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., when asked about specific DHS funding.
“Republicans will not agree because they are trying to hold back national security.”
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Capitol Hill, left, pictured next to ICE agents, right. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images; Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune)
His position was echoed by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
“We need to fund every aspect of it except for ICE. We’re going to fight ICE funding. I mean, they already have $75 billion,” Khanna said, noting that ICE itself has already received funding through Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
In light of those budgets, Republicans believe Democrats have taken an untenable position as they continue to scale back efforts to fund the entire DHS.
“They’re not interested in reopening, are they? Their whole thing is: ‘Okay, we’re going to close that exit and it’s going to affect ICE and Border Patrol.’ But ICE and the border patrol are the ones not affected by this shutdown. They were funded by the One Big, Beautiful Bill that was passed earlier,” said Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla.,
“How long can I see Democrats lying in their place? Forever,” added Mast.
Applications to use partial funding status have increased significantly since the closure began.
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The US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
DHS funding began to expire on Feb. 14. when Democrats refused to advance a DHS spending bill that did not include a set of requirements to reform ICE. Among other reforms, Democrats have put their support behind a ban on masks for ICE agents, stricter warrant requirements for arresting suspects in public and a ban on patrol patrols.
Republicans rejected these demands, saying they would handcuff President Donald Trump.
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.
The conflict has overtaken a series of domestic attacks, fueling anger among Republicans that the shutdown of DHS could reduce the country’s readiness to fight similar threats.
A car bombing at a synagogue in Michigan, a shooting at a university in Virginia, a bombing in New York and another shooting in Texas have left members like Seth Magaziner, DR.I., joining calls to defund ICE DHS.
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A Brazilian man has been indicted in Florida for allegedly creating a fake government company and selling DHS and FBI identification cards that he said would provide protection from immigration enforcement. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
“If it takes more time to negotiate those changes to ICE, the right thing to do is to fund all of DHS, TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, counterterrorism, all of that, while we continue to negotiate with ICE,” Magaziner said.
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Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he has also joined that position.
“He’s ready, willing, and willing to defund TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard through a separate bill that we offered and the Republicans rejected. There’s a simple solution here,” Blumenthal said.
