The U.S. government began a limited shutdown on Saturday, the third in Donald Trump’s second term, after talks between the White House and congressional Democrats failed to agree on new limits on federal immigration agents.
The shutdown affects about 13% of the federal civilian workforce and is limited to agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which screens airline passengers.
The latest lockdown is unlikely to be lifted soon – US lawmakers have left Washington, D.C., for a 10-day break.
However, congressional Republican leaders said negotiations will continue and lawmakers should be prepared to return to Washington if a deal is reached.
In November, a disparate set of issues led to a broader federal government shutdown for a record 43 days.
Despite the reduction in funding for the Department of Homeland Security, widespread disruption to the department’s work is not expected. But U.S. travelers may see delays at airport security checks. Disaster relief and immigration enforcement could also be affected if funding outages are prolonged.
At the center of the debate are calls from Democrats for new restrictions on immigration agents after they shot Alex Pretty and Renee Goode in Minneapolis last month. Those restrictions include requiring agents to operate without masks and first obtain a judicial warrant before making arrests at a home — requests that Republicans have largely rejected.
However, the shutdown has not stopped Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection operations, as they were fully funded as part of last year’s budget bill.
Before the shutdown, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson for adjourning Congress rather than keeping lawmakers in Washington to continue negotiations.
“We have drawn a hard line on behalf of the American people and we will not allow Congress to cross it,” Jeffries told reporters on Friday. “ICE needs major reform. Period. Period.”
After Democrats rejected the White House proposal on Thursday, the Senate minority leader called it “no serious, plain and simple.”
Schumer later posted a video on X showing federal immigration agents pushing people to the ground and pepper-spraying them. “This is why Democrats voted against providing more funding to ICE. We will continue to do so until ICE is under control and the violence ends.”
But Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “It seems to me, at least at this point, what’s happening with Democrats, as they did last fall, is they really don’t want solutions. They don’t want answers. They want political questions.”
“We’re talking, but we have to protect law enforcement. I know what they want and I know what they can tolerate. The Democrats have gone crazy,” Donald Trump told reporters on Friday.