Politics

Here’s The Price Americans Pay If Dems Shut Down DHS At Midnight

(Photo by Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)

An impending shutdown is expected to wreck a slate of federal agencies beginning Saturday as Democrats refuse to get behind a funding agreement.

As negotiations over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding continue to stall over Democrat demands for sweeping immigration enforcement reform, the likelihood of a partial shutdown appears all but certain. The stalemate continues as congressional Democrats insist on major changes for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and policies, demands that GOP lawmakers say are tacitly designed to hamstring deportation officers.

The shutdown would be widespread, according to internal DHS documentation obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Beyond affecting pay for employees across the department, the fallout is expected to hit agencies far outside the scope of federal immigration enforcement, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and elsewhere.

“DHS essential missions and functions will continue as they do during every shutdown,” a DHS spokesperson stated to the DCNF. “However, during a shutdown, many employees will be forced to work without pay, putting strain on the frontline defenders of our nation.”

The Senate on Thursday failed to advance a full-year appropriations bill for DHS after Democrats followed through on their pledge to withhold their votes until their lengthy demands were met, with Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman being the lone Democrat to break ranks and support the DHS funding bill. The 52-47 vote fell short of a filibuster-proof majority, making it very likely that DHS will undergo a shutdown by Saturday at 12:01 unless a last-minute deal is reached.

While FEMA currently has disaster relief funds to continue on with emergency responses amid a shutdown, the funds could become strained or completely exhausted if a catastrophic disaster strikes, the internal documents show. FEMA will also be unable to process many disaster and non-disaster grants, keeping billions in funding from firefighter, police department and emergency management services.

Americans could also expect longer wait times at airports as frontline TSA employees are expected to work without pay, according to the internal documentation. National security would also be put on the line, with the U.S. Coast Guard forced to deal with a reduced level of support for operations, potentially causing reduced and cancelled patrols.

“Additionally, the lapse would diminish ongoing collaboration with state and local law enforcement partners,” the document noted of the partial shutdown, which would be limited to DHS agencies. “OSA [Office of Homeland Security Situation Awareness] would significantly reduce the state and local law enforcement officer liaisons who work inside the National Operations Center, which forms the backbone for coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation.”

The risks inch closer to reality as lawmakers in Washington, D.C., fail to reach a consensus on how to reform immigration enforcement.

Following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January amid heightened ICE operations in Minneapolis, sparking widespread protests against the agency, Democrat leadership released a list of 10 demands they want to see imposed on federal immigration agents to win over their approval for additional DHS funding.

While GOP lawmakers have indicated they are willing to work with their Democrat counterparts on some of these requests, any policies hamstringing ICE’s mission are considered non-starters, a Republican staffer closely involved in negotiations told the DCNF.

A major point of contention is a proposal that ICE agents obtain judicial warrants before executing arrests on private property, a move critics say is entirely unnecessary and only designed to render immigration enforcement agents useless.

“Adding a whole new layer of judicial warrant requirements is an unworkable proposal,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a press conference in February. “And I think the people who are making that suggestion understand that.”

Long opposed to the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement agenda, many Democrats are seizing on the ICE and CBP-involved shootings in Minneapolis to force changes. Outside of judicial warrants, their demands also include the removal of face masks, the use of body cameras during operations, more local oversight and other liberal reforms.

While funding from the Big Beautiful Bill has bolstered immigration enforcement agencies with copious amounts of money for the time being, Democrats may have an edge in negotiations as polling indicates that as many as 62% of Americans now believe the Trump administration has gone too far with ICE deployment in major cities. The grim survey numbers could push the GOP into a more conciliatory position as the midterm elections inch closer and Republicans are already dealing with a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.