Democrats win funding battle over ICE
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/3/27/2375071/-Democrats-win-funding-battle-over-ICE?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_8&pm_medium=web
The Senate, in the wee hours of Friday morning, voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security without money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ensuring that other critical functions of DHS like airport security and disaster relief can resume after a 41-day shutdown.
Democrats—who refused to fund the agency unless Republicans agreed to reform ICE and Customs and Border Control agents' conduct—had been pushing for this solution for weeks, saying that other DHS functions like the Transportation Security Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency should resume while immigration negotiations continued.
Republicans had blocked that idea multiple times. Yet Friday morning, Republicans finally caved, after hundreds of TSA workers—who have gone unpaid for weeks due to the funding lapse—have called out sick or walked off the job, leading to hours-long security line waits at airports across the country. The DHS funding without money for ICE and CBP passed by a voice vote, meaning individual senator’s votes were not recorded.
"After weeks of negotiations, Republicans caved to our demands to fund DHS without a blank check for ICE and CBP," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a post on X.
Senate Democrats held firm for months that they would not fund ICE and CBP without reforms, vowing to stop agents from marauding the street in masks violently abducting anyone they think looks undocumented, while at the same time brutalizing or even killing people who protest or attempt to document their lawlessness.
And while Republicans tried to gin up backlash to Democrats’ strategy, polling showed Americans disliked the GOP’s refusal to rein in immigration agents’ conduct more.
Related |Senate Democrats dig in for a shutdown—with the public on their side
“Democrats have been clear for weeks: There is absolutely no reason that TSA agents’ paychecks should be held hostage to Republicans’ demands to provide another blank check for ICE and Border Patrol—and it is just plain wrong that their pay has been held up this long. But finally, Republicans have relented, and we are now on track to fund the areas we agree on and get TSA agents paid, get our airports moving again, and fund important disaster relief and cybersecurity work,” Patty Murray, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement on Friday.
At the same time, Murray slammed Republicans for not compromising on ICE reforms, which polling shows Americans overwhelmingly support.
“It is a shame that instead of working with Democrats to land the plane on several common-sense reforms to ICE and Border Patrol that the White House had already agreed to, Republicans walked away from constructive conversations and ultimately rejected some basic steps to reform these agencies. I will keep fighting to secure real, meaningful steps to help rein in these rogue agencies—we just need Republicans to join us,” Murray said.
While no agreement has been met on those reforms, Senate Democrats ensured those agencies did not get any more funding until such a compromise can be met.
"I'm very proud of our Democratic caucus," Schumer said in a statement. "Through it all, Senate Democrats stood united—no wavering, no backing down. We held the line."
Now, the House must pass the Senate agreement to send it to President Donald Trump's desk for a signature.
The House could vote as early as Friday on the funding bill, but silly House procedural rules demanded by right-wing Republicans could delay passage until next week.
“We're having just some early discussions about what we got to do. But we're also touching base with a lot of members," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman.
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