Congress delivered a sweeping funding package just days before a threatening shutdown deadline, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement has now become the central fault line.
The bipartisan deal, reported by NBC News, funds the remaining government agencies for the fiscal year while quietly putting on hold several Democratic-backed restrictions on ICE operations that had become politically charged.
Democrats had pushed for provisions requiring ICE agents to wear visible identification, banning masks during enforcement actions, and explicitly barring the detention or deportation of US citizens. Those measures did not survive final negotiations.
That omission has triggered open resistance.
The next government shutdown could hit at the end of this month, and if the budget bill includes more funding for ICE, then shut it down. Shut the government down.
ICE is a horror show of abuse, a violent culture, and routine human rights violations. Every Democrat in Congress… pic.twitter.com/jNX5gMYGMu
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) January 18, 2026
“This is more than just ICE,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro said, warning that a lapse in funding would ripple across the government. She pointed to unpaid TSA agents, delayed FEMA assistance, and impacts on the Coast Guard as immediate consequences if the bill fails.
So far, the House has passed eight of the 12 full-year appropriations bills required to keep the government running. Completing the remaining four would close the books nearly four months after the fiscal year began.
The Senate is the bigger obstacle. It returns to Washington next week with just days to act before funding expires on Jan. 31. Avoiding a partial government shutdown will require 60 votes. Republicans hold 53 seats, making Democratic support unavoidable. That leverage is being used.
“We cannot vote for anything that actually adds more money and doesn’t constrain ICE,” Sen. Ruben Gallego said, arguing that current enforcement practices have crossed a line. He said he understands the political risks of withholding support but framed the choice as unavoidable.
Gallego described ICE operations as “racially profiling people” and “terrorizing our cities,” tying them directly to policies he blamed on Stephen Miller and the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.
“If I have to shut down the portion of ICE that is causing this kind of harm, I know the implications,” he said. “But we cannot keep funding this.”
ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither a CR nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it, because, thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap whether or not we pass a funding bill.
My full statement on the DHS funding bill. pic.twitter.com/PKiqWhTUIU
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) January 20, 2026
Sen. Chris Van Hollen struck a similar tone, saying he would not vote to provide “one dime” for ICE without significant reforms. He cited a recent federal court ruling that found ICE agents had violated constitutional rights by interfering with protected peaceful protests.
“There has to be dramatic change,” Van Hollen said. “I don’t foresee this administration doing that at this moment.”
The broader funding package, which was outlined by congressional leaders on Tuesday, includes a mix of bipartisan priorities. Health care provisions backed by both parties expand oversight of pharmacy benefit managers who are the middlemen controlling prescription drug benefits.
The bill also includes new reporting requirements for the Department of Homeland Security, tighter limits on how funds can be reallocated internally, and $20 million for body cameras for immigration enforcement officers.
Democratic appropriators view those concessions as meaningful but they don’t see them as complete.
Sen. Patty Murray said Democrats had blocked a GOP effort to further expand ICE’s budget, cut detention funding and capacity, reduced Customs and Border Protection funding by more than $1 billion, and rejected what she called Republican “poison pill” riders. She acknowledged the constraints were still insufficient for many in her caucus.
DeLauro was more blunt. She said she understands why some Democrats remain dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE at all. While she argued the package takes “steps in the right direction,” she conceded it falls short of the reforms many had demanded. Neither side sees an easy exit.
A continuing resolution would preserve existing funding levels, including money allocated to ICE under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A shutdown would stop parts of government operations without actually restricting immigration enforcement. With the House expected to vote before recess and the Senate facing a narrow window, the fight over ICE is now inseparable from the question of whether the government stays open at all.
