The Department of Homeland Security remains partially shut down this week, as Republicans and Democrats fail to resolve their ongoing funding disagreement and oversight questions about the department’s extreme deportation operations. Congressional negotiators have shown “few signs of backing down from their demands,” with “little holding back” further negotiations from “dragging on for the foreseeable future,” said The Hill. Despite the ongoing gridlock, much of DHS’s most visible work will likely remain relatively uninterrupted, as officials have newfound latitude to shift the department’s supercharged budget.
Because much of the department’s operations are “focused on activities that protect life and property,” that work is “therefore considered essential,” said CNN. That includes “those related to immigration and drug trafficking,” as well as port inspections, Secret Service operations and other similar assignments. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection Agency operations are also “unlikely to be significantly affected” by the partial shutdown, since the Trump-backed Big Beautiful Bill already “allocates billions of dollars to immigration enforcement,” said Fox News.
The “political calculus” for this DHS-specific partial shutdown “differs from that in past shutdown situations,” said MS NOW. Most federal services are “flowing normally” since only DHS is affected. And with ICE and CBP flush with funds, other agencies will feel the crunch first, with TSA agents expected to see the closure “hit their paychecks” in mid-March. Broadly, Democrats have “less incentive to capitulate” on their demands for increased DHS oversight, said CNBC, given the “limited scope of the shutdown” and public disapproval of the White House’s deportation operations. |