A security officer stands outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters during a protest on February 3, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – The second partial government shutdown of 2026 was scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, after lawmakers left the nation’s capital without reaching an agreement on changes to immigration enforcement tactics at the Department of Homeland Security.
The break in the department’s work will probably last for some time. With Congress recessing next week for Presidents’ Day, lawmakers are not expected to arrive at the Capitol to vote until Feb. 23.
Procedural voting to approve funding for the Homeland Security Act for Fiscal Year 2026 failed to gain support from Senate Democrats on Thursday because it did not include restrictions on immigration enforcement, such as ending agents wearing face coverings.
Even with the president’s border czar Tom Homan I announce Thursday withdrawing thousands of federal immigration officers from Minneapolis, Democrats argued that it would not be enough.
“Without legislation, what Tom Homan says today could be reversed tomorrow at the whim of (President) Donald Trump,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday on the Senate floor.
Asked Friday by a press group about reaching a cease-and-desist agreement, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens. We always have to protect our law enforcement.”
After the Senate vote failed 52-47, members of Congress left Washington for a break. Some traveled to Munich, Germany, for an vital security conference.
ICE still has the cash on him
Although the Trump agency tasked with carrying out a campaign of mass immigrant deportations will be shut down, enforcement will continue because Congress has allocated a separate stream of money, about $75 billion, for U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Services.
During the government shutdown last fall, which lasted a record 43 days, immigration enforcement continued.
Other agencies within DHS that will be closed but will continue to operate because they have vital workers include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Usuallyall employees who focus on national security issues or the protection of life and property will continue to work after the shutdown, while federal employees who do not should be furloughed.
No category of workers will receive pay during the funding lapse, although federal law requires that they receive back pay after Congress approves some spending bill.
Masks, body cameras
Democrats are calling for policy changes after federal immigration officials killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, where a deportation operation is set to end after the city faced more than two months of aggressive immigration enforcement.
Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Jan. 7, leading to a bipartisan agreement to implement some protective barriers, such as a $20 million subsidy for immigration agents to wear body cameras.
But a second killing by federal immigration officers, Alex Pretti, on Jan. 24 prompted the Senate to separate homeland security measures from the spending package as Democrats advanced proposals aimed at reining in the enforcement tactics, prompting a four-day partial shutdown. There is a two-week funding period for negotiations, which expires at midnight on Friday.
Those policy suggestions include requiring immigration officers not to wear masks or identify themselves, which has drawn forceful opposition from Republicans and leaders of ICE and Customs and Border Protection who say face coverings prevent them from deceiving their agents.
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sent the proposals to the White House but said the Trump administration’s response was “incomplete and insufficient to address Americans’ concerns about ICE’s unlawful conduct.”
In accordance with the contingency plan for DHS, the agency expects about 20,000 of its 271,000 employees to be furloughed in the event of a government shutdown.
