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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) saw its funding lapse at midnight, triggering the third and smallest government shutdown during President Trump’s second term, as Democrats push for changes in immigration enforcement policies.
This shutdown is anticipated to extend beyond the previous four-day partial closure that concluded last week. The extension is due to ongoing negotiations among the White House, Republicans, and Senate Democrats over potential immigration reforms.
With most House and Senate members having left Washington for a planned weeklong recess, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) mentioned he would summon lawmakers back if an agreement is reached, although he has not officially canceled the recess.
On Thursday, the White House’s latest proposal was dismissed by Democrats, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) criticizing it as “not serious, plain and simple.”
Democratic demands, which include stricter warrant requirements, transparency regarding federal immigration officers, and the cessation of roving patrols, are facing significant opposition from Republicans.
Trump added that he knows “what [Democrats] want,” but declined to offer details.
“You always have to protect our law enforcement. They’ve done a great job. Remember, they’ve taken out hundreds of thousands of criminals out of our country,” Trump said Friday as he left the White House.
Unlike the record-setting 43-day full government shutdown last year, this partial shutdown is not expected to have immediate broad impacts on the public.
DHS accounts for about 3 percent of the U.S. federal budget, and the vast majority of employees in the department will be required to work without pay.
“The reality is nearly 90 percent of the department will continue operating even if Congress fails to complete its work by the end of the week,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), ranking member on the House Appropriations subcommittee that crafted the DHS funding bill, said in a hearing on shutdown impacts this week.
And the two agencies at the center of the immigration enforcement controversy, ICE and Customs and Border Protection, are expected to be able to tap into tens of billions in funds appropriated to the agencies by Republicans in their “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump signed into law last year.
“DHS essential missions and functions will continue as they do during every shutdown. However, during a shutdown, many employees will be forced to work without pay, putting strain on the frontline defenders of our nation,” a DHS spokesperson told The Hill.
The negative effects of the shutdown, however, would increase the longer it goes on.
DHS also encompasses the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Secret Service.
The public could be most impacted by staffing shortages that result in lengthy airport security screening delays. The longer the shutdown, the higher the risk of disruptions to the TSA officers calling out of work as they go without pay.
“TSA saw increased rates of unscheduled absences and localized spikes in weight times as the shutdown dragged on and the cost of coming to work became more and more untenable for our frontline workforce,” TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said in the Appropriations hearing. “We heard reports of officers sleeping in their cars at airports to save money on gas, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet.”
There is some time, though, before DHS employees feel the impacts of missed pay, lessening the pressure on both the workforce and on lawmakers to get a deal. The next paycheck deposit date for federal workers is not until the end of February.
Adm. Thomas Allan, Acting Vice Commandant at the U.S. Coast Guard, said in the hearing that a funding lapse “requires the Coast Guard to suspend all missions except those for national security of the protection of life and property.”
That means certain training would shut down, and there would be delays in vessel inspection.
The shutdown could delay non-disaster FEMA grants to states and localities.
Gregg Phillips, associate administrator of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, said in the hearing that a funding lapse “will hinder communication, planning, and joint operations, affecting disaster relief outcomes and complicating recovery efforts,” and “[cripple] FEMA’s central operations and recovery-related work.”
He warned that the shutdown could undermine FEMA’s readiness for major disasters, and could mean a delay in processing a backlog of disaster relief claims.