Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida, lawmakers and the White House showed no sign of compromise as a partial shutdown—triggered by a Homeland Security funding dispute—entered its second day, according to the Associated Press. The standoff centered on oversight requirements for federal immigration officers and left Congress, including the White House, with competing conditions for a deal.
The shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s team failed to reach agreement on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September. Congress was in recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appeared to have hardened their positions, the AP reported.
Democrats said they wanted changes to how immigration operations are conducted after what they described as fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month. The AP reported that the dispute has also involved provisions aimed at the conduct of federal immigration enforcement operations, including identification and monitoring requirements.
The impasse has affected a range of Homeland Security and related agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and the two immigration enforcement components of the department: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In the AP account, Congress’s inability to break the logjam also created uncertainty about which functions would continue if the funding pause extended.
Even as the funding battle persisted, the AP reported that work at ICE and CBP was continuing, in part because, under a tax and spending cut law from 2025 that provided additional money for deportation operations, about 90% of DHS employees were expected to keep working during the shutdown but without pay. The AP also noted that missed paychecks could create financial hardship for those employees and pointed to last year’s 43-day government shutdown as a reference point for how long such pauses can last.
White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration would not agree to Democratic demands that immigration officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations, and display unique ID numbers. Homan told reporters, “I don’t like the masks, either,” and added, “These men and women have to protect themselves.”
Democrats also sought other requirements, according to the AP report, including body cameras for immigration agents and a mandate for judicial warrants for arrests on private property. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats were urging federal officers to follow rules used by law enforcement agencies elsewhere in the country, arguing, “They’re not crazy. They’re not way out. They’re what every police department in America does.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could back some of the Democratic proposals, including equipping immigration officers with body cameras and bolstering training, but balked at demands for officers to remove masks and clearly identify themselves. Mullin said some immigration-enforcement officers have faced doxing and harassment and asked, “What are you going to do, expose their faces so you can intimidate their families?”
Mullin also pointed to cooperation as an alternative path for enforcement. The AP reported that Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he wanted ICE to be able to do its job and would “love for local law enforcement and for states to cooperate with us.”
On the other side of the negotiation, Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama—described by the AP as a Trump ally who pushed for a two-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continued—said Democrats were “shortsighted of Democrats to walk away” from talks. The AP report said Trump has made immigration enforcement a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign and promised to be aggressive in detaining and deporting people living in the U.S. without legal permission.
Britt said President Donald Trump would not back away from immigration enforcement priorities. She told reporters, “President Trump is not going to back away from the mission, the mission that American people said they wanted him to complete, and that is securing our border and making sure that we actually do interior enforcement.”
The AP also reported that DHS said it has deported more than 675,000 migrants since Trump’s return to office last year, and that it claims another 2.2 million people have “self-deported” as the Republican president has prioritized what the administration describes as an immigration crackdown.