At the stroke of midnight on February 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially ran out of funds, triggering a partial government shutdown that immediately rippled across the nation’s airports, disaster response operations, and border security apparatus. The shutdown, a result of an intense political standoff over immigration enforcement reforms, has left critical federal workers without pay and raised alarms about travel delays, disaster relief, and the broader state of American governance.
The immediate cause of the shutdown traces back to a bitter dispute between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. According to Reuters and BBC, lawmakers failed to reach a deal on DHS funding after weeks of tense negotiations. The Senate adjourned on Friday, February 13, without passing a budget, while the House of Representatives had already left for a weeklong recess the previous evening. With both chambers out of town and no agreement in sight, DHS’s funding lapsed at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, leaving thousands of federal employees in limbo.
The heart of the dispute lies in the aftermath of a federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota in January, which led to the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The incident, where reports surfaced of masked immigration agents using excessive force and threatening bystanders, galvanized Democratic leaders to demand sweeping reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both agencies under the DHS umbrella.
Democrats, led by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have insisted on a series of reforms as a condition for supporting DHS funding. Their demands include requiring agents to obtain judicial warrants before entering homes, banning the use of masks to conceal agent identities, mandating the display of identification, prohibiting racial profiling, ending stakeouts at sensitive locations like schools and churches, requiring the use of body cameras, establishing clear use-of-force policies, and ensuring independent investigations into alleged misconduct. They also call for an end to roving patrols and safeguards to prevent U.S. citizens from being mistakenly detained or deported. As DeLauro put it in a statement, “The law-abiding agencies under the Department of Homeland Security should not be held hostage because Republicans refuse to agree to popular reforms for lawless agencies.”
On February 4, Democratic leaders issued their list of demands, threatening to withhold votes from any DHS funding legislation that did not include these “common sense reforms.” Republicans, however, have staunchly rejected these conditions. President Donald Trump’s party, which controls both chambers of Congress, called the demands unreasonable and accused Democrats of playing politics with national security. “The things they want to shut down aren’t going to shut down,” said House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, highlighting that ICE and the Border Patrol would remain operational thanks to $75 billion in funding from the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed the previous year.
The legislative deadlock reached a head on February 12, when Senate Republicans failed to advance a bill funding DHS for the remainder of the fiscal year, falling short of the 60-vote threshold required to break a filibuster. The vote split 52-47, with all but one Democrat—Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—opposing the measure. Efforts to pass a short-term stopgap bill were also blocked by Democrats, who insisted that any further funding must be tied to meaningful immigration reforms. “The path forward is simple: Negotiate serious guardrails that protect Americans, that rein in ICE, and stop the violence,” Schumer told reporters, underscoring the party’s resolve.
With Congress adjourned until at least February 23, the shutdown is poised to last a minimum of ten days—possibly longer—unless lawmakers are called back to Washington for an emergency vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune advised colleagues to “be available to get back here if there’s some sort of a deal they strike to vote on it,” but for now, the impasse persists.
The practical impact of the shutdown is already being felt. According to BBC and Al Jazeera, agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are now operating without pay for their employees, though most are required to continue working due to the critical nature of their roles. Travel and hospitality groups, including Airlines for America, issued a joint statement on Friday warning, “Travelers and the US economy cannot afford to have essential TSA personnel working without pay, which increases the risk of unscheduled absences and call outs, and ultimately can lead to higher wait times and missed or delayed flights.”
Vice Admiral Thomas Allan of the Coast Guard echoed these concerns, telling lawmakers that a few days without funding could mean about 56,000 workers going without pay and the suspension of non-critical missions. Disaster relief funding is also set to be severely reduced, potentially hampering the federal response to emergencies just as the nation enters the heart of winter.
Yet, in a twist emblematic of the current political climate, the very agencies at the center of the controversy—ICE and CBP—will continue to operate largely unaffected. Thanks to the prior year’s budget allocation, these agencies have ample funds to maintain their operations, including the controversial immigration enforcement tactics that sparked the shutdown. As NBC News reports, Republicans argue that the funding lapse does nothing to slow Trump’s immigration agenda, while Democrats counter that the shutdown is necessary leverage to force overdue reforms.
The White House, for its part, has signaled some willingness to negotiate but remains firm on key points. A senior official told reporters, “The administration remains interested in working with these guys in good faith, but we will not be held hostage on an issue the president was elected on.” President Trump himself, when asked about the standoff, said, “We always have to protect our law enforcement,” leaving the door open for further talks but offering little in the way of immediate compromise.
Public opinion appears to be shifting in favor of reform. A recent poll from PBS News, NPR, and Marist found that 65 percent of respondents believe ICE has gone too far in its crackdown, while an NBC News poll revealed that President Trump’s approval rating on immigration and border security has dropped to 40 percent, down from 51 percent last June.
Meanwhile, the human cost of the shutdown grows. Tens of thousands of federal workers are now facing the prospect of missed paychecks, with many forced to work regardless. The last government shutdown, which lasted a record 43 days, saw widespread disruption to federal services and chaos at airports—a scenario many hope to avoid this time, though the risk remains if the impasse drags on.
As both sides dig in, the path forward remains uncertain. Democrats, emboldened by public support and the outrage following the deaths in Minnesota, are unlikely to back down from their reform demands. Republicans, for their part, argue that national security and law enforcement must not be compromised by political brinkmanship. For now, the fate of the DHS—and the thousands who depend on its services—hangs in the balance, waiting for Washington to find a way through the latest chapter in America’s ongoing debate over immigration and the rule of law.