No clear path to ending the partial government shutdown as lawmakers dig in over DHS oversight

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 4:27 PM EST, February 15, 2026


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise Sunday in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.

Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. The impasse affects agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The work at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trump’s tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies that can be tapped for deportation operations. About 90% of DHS employees were to continue working during the shutdown, but do so without pay — and missed paychecks could mean financial hardships. Last year there was a record 43-day government shutdown.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-homeland-security-democrats-ice-bd2b84b6f38f1c916637b205854a3c83

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. Good. (n/t)

[yankee87]

2. Zero Compromise

No Democrat better give in. It's because of some Quislings we are in this disaster.

[durablend]

6. Fetterman is likely ragey over this

[Bettie]

8. Fetterman can stick his rage someplace

where the sun don't shine.

[pandr32]

3. Hold. The. Line.

[Initech]

4. DHS and ICE can go fuck themselves striaght to hell.

Also the White House is not, nor will it ever be located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Fuck Donald Trump.

[maxsolomon]

5. Every radio report I heard last week said the same thing

"Some of the measures Democrats are demanding, like ICE not masking, were deemed non-starters by Republicans".

[quakerboy]

7. why are we even giving pretense

ICE needs to be scrapped. Its existence is incompatible with having a functioning democracy. Till that is officially achieved, doing anything that would further its funding or imply acceptance is just shooting ourselves in the face.

[stopdiggin]

9. a position that probably draws very LIMITED support

both within the halls of congress - and the general population.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[quakerboy]

12. Its been nice having a democracy, I guess

[stopdiggin]

13. which of course hangs on whether ICE is abolished

or not.

[quakerboy]

14. Among other things, yes

Functional democracy is not compatible with government funded unaccountable paramilitary forces

[stopdiggin]

15. while 'unaccountability' is not necessarily to be countered

with a complete absence.
(which is what I understood you to be saying, advocating?
correct me if I was wrong?)

Which is why I see the position/argument - as untenable in the eyes of a vast portion ...

[quakerboy]

16. This is why we are where we are

Because we dont believe that what has happened elsewhere and is happening here can really happen here.

[stopdiggin]

18. I said nothing of the sort

For clarification - what I continue to say - is that the abolishment of ANY type of border or customs enforcement - is, and will continue to be - a non-starter with a very large portion of the population.
(And, by almost any kind of common definition - that is precisely what democracy represents.)

[quakerboy]

17. To be clear. I dont think many if any

are advocating for a complete lack of immigration control. Although, funny enough to me, that was, at least until fairly recently, a fairly popular stated POV amongst a number of fairly hard right libertarians that I know. However, abolishing ICE does not mean open borders or we ignore crime or any such nonsense. We had border controls and law enforcement long before ICE was even a gleam in the Rights eye.

ICE is not what we need, and can never be what we need. It is corrupt from the inside out. It is not reformable or redeemable. It should be proactively shut down, dissolved, and if we are being honest all employees blacklisted from future government service. I would accept just never providing it another dime of government funding and letting it wither as a second best alternative.

[IronLionZion]

10. The administration already gutted FEMA way too much

Coast Guard is being used for capturing oil tankers these days. It's not great for the other coasties doing their normal jobs along America's waterways.

But of course the real perps are ICE and CBP who have way too much funding from last year's bill. So they won't feel any pain. They inflict pain on American citizens and kill them.

[Roy Rolling]

11. Defund ICE

Shut the government down, and agree to discussions to abolish DHS.

Don’t be timid and beg for a few concessions to the terrorist Republicans who fund ICE, bring them to their knees.