In the early hours of Friday morning, the Senate voted to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security while excluding funding for immigration law enforcement agencies.
The deal, which passed by unanimous consent at around 2:30 a.m., could put an end to chaos at airports across the nation but may upset hardliners in both parties.
Senate Republican leadership requested unanimous consent from the chamber to fund key agencies within the department, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) receives no funding in the bill, and most of Customs and Border Protection does not receive funding, either.
However, both immigration enforcement agencies already received funding from the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” a July 2025 party line budget reconciliation bill.
Hearing no objections, the Senate was able to pass the bill and leave town.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., argued Friday morning that the deal, although imperfect, is for the best after several weeks in which Democrats refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security without additional restraints on immigration enforcement.
“We had hoped we would get a [full] funding bill and we were trying to accommodate their requests for reform,” Thune said. “We couldn’t get any closer on it, so you kind of pivot to the next strategy. But it’s unfortunate it didn’t get done because it’s not good for America.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., presented the deal as a win for his party after six weeks of voting against funding bills.
“Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump’s rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms,” said Schumer.
“I’m very proud of our Democratic caucus. Throughout it all, Senate Democrats stood united—no wavering, no backing down.”
Now, the deal will go to the House, where some conservatives are already expressing their displeasure with a deal that forgoes funding the president’s immigration agenda.
“And just like that, while Americans were asleep, Senate Republicans were wide awake tossing the radical Democrats a political lifeline to end the government shutdown without funding ICE and our brave Border Patrol,” wrote Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., Friday morning on X.
Rose is running against Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., for governor of the Volunteer State.
“Now they’re off to take their recess — getting off the hook from having to vote on the SAVE America Act and fully funding ICE,” Rose added.
House conservatives had called for an extended Senate debate on the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also heaped scorn on the Senate’s work.
“Why would @SenateGOP throw Democrats a political lifeline now… to fund TSA that doesn’t fund ICE & CBP – and in process likely get off of SAVE America Act to go home for Easter recess…???” he wrote on X.
One of the House’s options to fast track a bill is under “suspension of the rules”—an expedited process that requires two-thirds support for passage.
However, under current House rules, motions to suspend the rules are only in order on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
Another option is for the House to seek unanimous consent; an unlikely scenario where, out of over 430 members, none would have an objection.
Alternatively, the House could move the bill through the rules committee—a leadership-controlled panel that determines the conditions for debate.
However, that process takes time, and the panel has multiple members, such as Roy, who are likely annoyed by the idea of the Senate leaving Washington without funding immigration enforcement or making progress on the SAVE America Act.
The House Republican Whip team informed members in a Friday email that a vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security is possible today.
On Friday morning, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus gathered and declared their opposition to the bill.
“We can’t believe that the Senate abdicated its responsibility,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md.
“What we’re suggesting is that the only thing we’re going to support is adding that funding into the bill, adding voter ID, sending it back to the Senate, making them come back in and do their work.”
Harris rejected the idea of moving the bill on suspension of the rules, calling it a “very bad move for the American people.”
“Could the Senate be any more lazy than to send to us a bill that doesn’t do the job and then leave town?” Roy said. “We’re going to stand up and say ‘no’ to that. We’re going to send back a bill that’s responsible.”
This article was updated with quotes from the House Freedom Caucus.
