*Senate Majority Leader John Thune recently discussed a potential solution with President Donald Trump to reopen the Department of Homeland Security while keeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding separate.
NBC News reports that the proposal would provide resources for all DHS components except ICE, which Democrats have resisted without new restrictions on immigration enforcement.
White House aides first briefed Trump on the plan before Thune spoke with the president. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill also reviewed the idea, with some viewing it as a viable way to break the current funding deadlock. ICE funding could later be addressed through a party-line reconciliation bill, allowing Republicans to act without Democratic support.
The DHS shutdown has crossed the one-month mark with no resolution in sight. TSA and FEMA are still functioning, though a growing number of their employees are going without pay. More than 400 TSA officers have submitted resignations since the shutdown began, while ICE operations remain financially supported through last year’s “big beautiful bill.”
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Republicans argue that the Thune proposal could gain Democratic support while keeping ICE funding separate. However, Trump rejected the plan in a Truth Social post, stating, “I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.’”
He added that Republicans should “Kill the Filibuster, and stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.”
Trump has also threatened to replace TSA officers with ICE agents if Congress does not reach an agreement to reopen the partially shuttered department.
Senator John Kennedy emphasized the potential solution, saying, “We can be out of this shutdown by the end of the week. Here’s what we do. The Democrats are amenable to opening up everything at DHS but ICE. We should accept that. The very next day, we should file a budget resolution through reconciliation that funds ICE as we deem appropriate. We don’t need Democratic votes to do that.”
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