Homeland Security shutdown seems certain as funding talks between White
House and Democrats stall
[February 13, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, KEVIN FREKING and SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — A shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security
appeared certain Thursday as lawmakers in the House and Senate were set
to leave Washington for a 10-day break and negotiations with the White
House over Democrats' demands for new restrictions had stalled.
Democrats and the White House have traded offers in recent days as the
Democrats have said they want curbs on President Donald Trump’s broad
campaign of immigration enforcement. They have demanded better
identification for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other
federal law enforcement officers, a new code of conduct for those
agencies and more use of judicial warrants, among other requests.
The White House sent its latest proposal late Wednesday, but Trump told
reporters on Thursday that some of the Democratic demands would be
“very, very hard to approve.”
Democrats said the White House offer, which was not made public, did not
include sufficient curbs on ICE after two protesters were fatally shot
last month. The offer was “not serious,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck
Schumer of New York said Thursday, after the Senate rejected a bill to
fund the department.
Americans want accountability and “an end to the chaos,” Schumer said.
“The White House and congressional Republicans must listen and deliver.”
Lawmakers in both chambers were on notice to return to Washington if the
two sides struck a deal to end the expected shutdown. Sen. Patty Murray,
the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters
that Democrats would send the White House a counterproposal over the
weekend.
Impact of a shutdown
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said after the vote that a
shutdown appeared likely and “the people who are not going to be getting
paychecks" will pay the price.
The impact of a DHS shutdown is likely to be minimal at first. It would
not likely block any of the immigration enforcement operations, as
Trump’s tax and spending cut bill passed last year gave ICE about $75
billion to expand detention capacity and bolster enforcement operations.
But the other agencies in the department — including the Transportation
Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the
Secret Service and the Coast Guard — could take a bigger hit over time.
Gregg Phillips, an associate administrator at FEMA, said at a hearing
this week that its disaster relief fund has sufficient balances to
continue emergency response activities during a shutdown, but would
become seriously strained in the event of a catastrophic disaster.
Phillips said that while the agency continues to respond to threats like
flooding and winter storms, long-term planning and coordination with
state and local partners will be “irrevocably impacted.”
Trump defends officer masking
Trump, who has remained largely silent during the bipartisan talks,
noted Thursday that a recent court ruling rejected a ban on masks for
federal law enforcement officers.
“We have to protect our law enforcement,” Trump told reporters.
Democrats made the demands for new restrictions on ICE and other federal
law enforcement after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a
U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. Renee Good was
shot by ICE agents on Jan. 7.
Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be
separated from a larger spending measure that became law last week. That
package extended Homeland Security funding at current levels only
through Friday.
Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York have
said they want immigration officers to remove their masks, to show
identification and to better coordinate with local authorities. They
have also demanded a stricter use-of-force policy for the federal
officers, legal safeguards at detention centers and a prohibition on
tracking protesters with body-worn cameras.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., exits the floor after
voting at the Capitol, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Allison Robbert)
Democrats also say Congress should end indiscriminate arrests and
require that before a person can be detained, authorities have
verified that the person is not a U.S. citizen.
Thune suggested there were potential areas of compromise, including
on masks. There could be contingencies “that these folks aren't
being doxed,” Thune said. “I think they could find a landing place.”
But Republicans have been largely opposed to most of the items on
the Democrats’ list, including a prohibition on masks.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Republicans who have pushed for
stronger immigration enforcement would benefit politically from the
Democratic demands.
“So if they want to have that debate, we’ll have that debate all
they want,” said Schmitt.
Judicial warrants a sticking point
Thune, who has urged Democrats and the White House to work together,
indicated that another sticking point is judicial warrants.
“The issue of warrants is going to be very hard for the White House
or for Republicans,” Thune said of the White House's most recent
offer. “But I think there are a lot of other areas where there has
been give, and progress.”
Schumer and Jeffries have said DHS officers should not be able to
enter private property without a judicial warrant and that warrant
procedures and standards should be improved. They have said they
want an end to “roving patrols” of agents who are targeting people
in the streets and in their homes.
Most immigration arrests are carried out under administrative
warrants. Those are internal documents issued by immigration
authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific person but do
not permit officers to forcibly enter private homes or other
nonpublic spaces without consent. Traditionally, only warrants
signed by judges carry that authority.
But an internal ICE memo obtained by The Associated Press last month
authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based
solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone
with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides
with Fourth Amendment protections.
Far from agreement
Thune, R-S.D., said were “concessions” in the White House offer. He
would not say what those concessions were, though, and he
acknowledged the sides were “a long ways toward a solution."
Schumer said it was not enough that the administration had announced
an end to the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to
thousands of arrests and the fatal shootings of two protesters.
“We need legislation to rein in ICE and end the violence,” Schumer
said, or the actions of the administration “could be reversed
tomorrow on a whim.”
Simmering partisan tensions played out on the Senate floor
immediately after the vote, as Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, the
chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees
Homeland Security funding, tried to pass a two-week extension of
Homeland Security funding and Democrats objected.
Britt said Democrats were “posturing” and that federal employees
would suffer for it. “I’m over it!” she yelled.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Homeland
spending subcommittee, responded that Democrats “want to fund the
Department of Homeland Security, but only a department that is
obeying the law.”
“This is an exceptional moment in this country’s history,” Murphy
said.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Joey Cappelletti, Stephen
Groves and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.
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