The Department of Homeland Security is on track to partially shut down this weekend after Congress departed for the Presidents Day recess without approving a funding extension, leaving one of the nation’s largest federal agencies facing an immediate budget lapse.
Lawmakers had been negotiating a short-term funding solution to keep the department operating beyond Friday’s deadline, but disagreements over immigration enforcement and oversight provisions stalled progress. Without congressional action, DHS funding expires at midnight, triggering contingency plans across multiple agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security oversees a wide range of federal operations, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. While many essential employees would continue working during a shutdown, thousands of others could face temporary furloughs or delayed pay.
The funding breakdown underscores the deep divisions in Washington over border security policy and enforcement authority. Immigration strategy has become one of the most contentious issues in the current Congress, with lawmakers split over how aggressively federal agencies should operate and what guardrails should be imposed.
Unless lawmakers reconvene and pass emergency legislation in the coming days, DHS operations will shift into shutdown status as early as Saturday — creating operational strain at airports, ports of entry, and disaster response coordination hubs nationwide.
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Related:
DHS Shutdown Looms as Democrats Set Conditions for Funding Approval
