The Department of Homeland Security entered a partial government shutdown after its funding expired at midnight on Friday, marking the third shutdown in under six months and leaving approximately 250,000 federal employees working without pay while another 23,000 face furloughs. The shutdown was triggered by a congressional stalemate over immigration enforcement reform, with Senate Democrats blocking a full-year funding bill in a 52-47 vote that fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans. Congress then departed for a week-long recess with no deal in sight, and lawmakers are not expected to return until February 23, one day before President Trump's scheduled State of the Union address.
The impasse stems from the deadly fallout of Operation Metro Surge, the largest immigration enforcement operation ever conducted in the United States, which deployed approximately 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area starting in December 2025. The operation resulted in roughly 3,000 arrests and cost Minneapolis an estimated 203 million dollars according to city officials, but it was the killing of two American citizens by federal agents that made the operation politically toxic for the White House. On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good in her vehicle, and on January 24, Customs and Border Protection agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs, who had been filming officers and directing traffic. Border czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge on February 12, stating that he did not want to see any more bloodshed.
Democrats published a list of ten reforms they are demanding in exchange for approving DHS funding, including mandatory body cameras for all immigration officers, a ban on agents wearing masks to conceal their identities, requirements for judicial warrants before entering private property or making arrests, codified use-of-force restrictions, prohibition of roving patrols in metropolitan areas, a ban on racial profiling during enforcement actions, mandatory verification of citizenship before detaining individuals, the right to sue for violations, and protections for sensitive locations such as schools, churches, and medical facilities. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared that Democrats would not support a blank check for chaos and that the bill failed to make any progress on reining in ICE and stopping the violence. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dismissed the White House's compromise proposal as the latest unserious offer.
The shutdown affects DHS agencies unevenly, with the Transportation Security Administration's 64,000 employees required to continue screening passengers at airports without pay, while the Coast Guard must suspend all non-essential missions including training and commercial safety inspections. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will furlough a majority of its workforce, with Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala warning that when the government shuts down, cyber threats do not. FEMA's disaster response operations continue but reimbursements to states for disaster relief costs will be severely disrupted. In a pointed irony, ICE and Customs and Border Protection, the very agencies at the center of the political dispute, will be the least affected because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025 provided them with approximately 75 billion dollars in funding that goes well beyond their normal annual appropriations and ensures continued operations and on-time pay regardless of the shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged that every iteration of negotiations gets a step closer as the White House gives more ground on key issues, but conceded that the two sides are not close to a resolution. Republicans have expressed openness to some Democratic demands but call the mask removal requirement a non-starter, arguing it would make it easier to identify and target federal officers. The shutdown represents the narrowest in modern history, affecting only the Department of Homeland Security while all other government agencies remain fully funded through September. If it extends into the coming weeks, travelers could face longer security lines at airports as TSA historically experiences higher absence rates during shutdowns, and the nation's cybersecurity posture will weaken as CISA operates with a skeletal workforce unable to proactively scan for vulnerabilities.
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