Democrats Charge Forward With Shutdown Threat Over ICE Funding

The Senate rejected a six-bill appropriations package funding vast portions of the federal government Thursday with Democrats citing their opposition to funding federal immigration enforcement following weeks of unrest in Minnesota.

Lawmakers voted 46-54, falling well short of the 60-vote threshold necessary to advance the funding package. The decision of Senate Democrats — and some Republicans — to filibuster government funding is almost certain to trigger a partial government shutdown starting Saturday at 12:01 a.m. (RELATED: Schumer Reveals What Democrats Want In Order To Back Off Forcing Another Shutdown)

Republican Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Ashley Moody and Rick Scott of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also opposed advancing the funding package. The conservative group of lawmakers contains several leading fiscal hawks and opponents of abortion. Budd told reporters he voted “no” over concerns about “abortion funding” in the package.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s shutdown threat comes just three months after Democrats plunged the country into a record-breaking 43-day funding lapse in fall 2025 over Obamacare subsidies.

Despite the six-bill appropriations package being negotiated in a bipartisan manner, Democrats unanimously came out against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding measure included in the funding package following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Senate Democrats have demanded that Republicans separate the DHS funding measure from the five additional government funding bills included in the package, which the House approved overwhelmingly Thursday. Schumer wants to renegotiate the bill and is reportedly discussing a number of reforms to federal immigration enforcement with the White House. A deal over DHS funding was not reached prior to Thursday’s vote.

“It’s pretty clear that people want an end to these roving, indiscriminate patrols that are endangering citizens’ lives,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters Wednesday. “They don’t want any more secret mask police, and they want accountability for what’s already happened to American citizens.”

Democrats’ demand that federal immigration agents remove their masks is almost certainly a nonstarter for Republicans, who fear officers could be doxxed by far-left agitators.

“We’re not going to keep ICE from doing their job,” Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters Wednesday.

Border Czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that federal immigration authorities will focus their operations on illegal aliens with criminal records. He also floated a potential drawdown of federal immigration officers in Minnesota if local officials choose to cooperate with the Trump administration. It was not immediately clear whether Homan’s remarks helped soften Democrats’ opposition to the DHS funding bill.

Republicans have also noted that Democrats’ decision to block DHS funding could result in more money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not less. A stopgap spending measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to fund DHS at a higher amount than the House-passed DHS funding measure negotiated between both parties. The CR would also not include reforms to ICE that Democrats secured in the House-passed DHS bill, which included $20 billion for ICE body cameras.

The tens of billions of dollars that President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated to ICE and CBP also means federal immigration enforcement would likely keep moving at full throttle if the government shuts down while other vital agencies funded by the DHS bill would come to a halt.

The DHS bill also funds the Coast Guard, Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the TSA among other agencies.

“It shuts down Secret Service — kind of important, right?” Mullin said regarding Democrats’ filibuster of the DHS funding bill. ” It shuts down FEMA. That’s really important, especially with the ice storms and everything we have going on. It also shuts down the coast guard and shuts down TSA. That’s where they’re actually shutting down.

“ICE’s salary is still going to go out,” Mullin continued in a reference to the appropriations the agency received in Republicans’ tax and spending cut law.

Democrats could face immense public pressure for holding up billions in federal disaster funds if FEMA runs out of money during a prolonged shutdown. However, some lawmakers believe the fight over ICE funding is worth the risk.

“It is truly a moral moment,” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a brief interview on Tuesday. “I’d be willing to take the heat and vote down Transportation, Department of Health and Human Services, all the rest of it, because I think we need to take a stand.”

Also included in the six-bill appropriation package is the defense appropriations package. The bill funds troop pay, meaning U.S. service members would miss a paycheck absent intervention by the Trump admin in the event of a drawn-out shutdown.

Just seven House Democrats voted “yes” on the DHS funding bill Thursday, but support among Democrats for funding federal immigration enforcement cratered further over the weekend following Pretti’s shooting. Some of the defecting Democrats have since voiced support for defunding ICE and publicly apologized to the party’s base.

Congress has already passed six out of the 12 appropriations bills — including funding for the legislative branch, meaning a second shutdown is not expected to be as painful as the 2025 funding lapse. Federal nutrition assistance has also been fully funded for the remainder of the fiscal year. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which tens of millions of Americans rely on, became a pain point during the last shutdown.

Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.

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