Early Saturday morning the partial closure occurred (shutdown) of the Department of Homeland Securityafter the deadline (already extended) for Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress to reach an agreement on the financing of that portfolio.
From that moment on, the agencies that operate under its umbrella—ICE, but also Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), among others—ran out of funds, and part of their 260,000 employees they stopped receiving salaryat least until an agreement is reached.
However, ICE agents are considered essential workers, so they are required to remain at their jobs, without pay, until the impasse is resolved. In fact, this was confirmed over the weekend by the border ‘czar’ of the Donald Trump Administration, Tom Homanwho assured that the anti-immigration agents would continue “applying the heavy-handed immigration policy promoted by the president.”
“ICE officers will not be paid, but it seems like they are getting used to it. So no, the immigration mission, the reason Trump was elected president, continues. We have the most secure border in the history of the nation. We have record numbers of arrests and deportations that will continue,” he said during an interview on CNN. The operations, however, continue under the excuse of “ensure national security” thanks to the injection of funds from the Ley One Big Beautiful Billapproved last year by Donald Trump.
The ten demands
The stalemate in Congress to approve the budget law is due to Democrats refusing to support a project that, they believe, does not impose significant limits on ICE operations. Especially after a wave of protests that have broken out in several cities – especially in Minneapolis, Minnesota – after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens in recent operations.
Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers, have presented a list of ten demands. These include the prohibition of agents acting masked, the obligation to clearly identify themselves and wear body cameras, as well as a greater requirement for the use of court orders in operations, among other measures. For now, Republicans are unwilling to budge on any of these issues, claiming they are protecting officers from “digital lynching.”
In recent years, the Department has assigned about 10 billion dollars (about 8.4 billion euros) annually to ICE for its operation, reports the Efe agency. This is the item currently blocked in Congress. And the freezing of funds could also be extended in the coming weeks due to the scheduled recess in both chambers of Congress.