Democrats dug in their heels for weeks, refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security to pressure Republicans to accept absurd reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DHS funding lapsed back in February. That means TSA officers went more than 40 days without full paychecks. Over 10% were calling out sick daily. Some airports were hitting 40% no-shows. Hundreds even quit outright. Lines at big hubs like Houston snaked for hours. TSA even warned smaller airports could shutter without a quick fix. Democrats thought airport chaos would force Republicans to blink.
Instead, the Senate, after multiple failed attempts to pass a DHS funding bill, finally passed it on Friday morning. How did this happen? That’s easy.
President Donald Trump did something brilliant.
On Thursday, he dropped the hammer and announced he would sign an executive order to restart TSA pay right away. “It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!” Trump posted on Truth Social. The plan taps leftover cash from last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — billions earmarked for DHS stuff like immigration ops, World Cup security, Olympics prep, state grants, and protecting the president’s homes.
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“We are grateful to President Trump and Secretary Mullin for implementing a solution to pay tens of thousands of dedicated TSA officers for the important job they do, serving with professionalism on the frontlines of our nation’s aviation system, despite not receiving pay for more than 40 days,” former New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, who is now head of Airlines for America, said in a statement.
It’s no accident the Senate finally passed a bill by unanimous consent at 2 a.m. Friday, funding most of DHS, save for ICE and chunks of CBP.
This, of course, is why Democrats are pretending this is a victory for them.
“This is exactly what we wanted,” Schumer claimed. “This is what we asked for, and I’m very proud of my caucus. My caucus held the line.”
But it’s not.
Remember how the Democrats refused to fund ICE because they had a laundry list of demands they said were nonnegotiable. Among other things, they wanted an independent investigation into ICE tactics, bans on face masks and roving patrols, mandatory body cameras, the elimination of administrative warrants that bypass judges, and the end of arrest quotas. They effectively wanted to neuter ICE and make it impossible for them to enforce immigration law.
None of those demands were in the deal that passed.
“We’ve been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “And, I mean, in the end, this is what they were willing to agree to. But again, it’s different that it has zero reforms in it. I mean, they got no reforms on DHS, which they could have had if they had been willing to work with us a little bit on that.”
As for ICE funding, that was a red herring because it’s fully funded through 2029. In the end, zero reforms made the cut — the very changes they demanded as non-negotiable.
That’s what I call Democrats caving. They gambled hard. They figured the mounting misery — endless security queues, furious travelers — would bully the GOP into concessions. In the end, Trump removed all the leverage Democrats had, and they had to throw in the towel. Airport chaos wasn’t even the biggest problem. With the ongoing conflict in Iran, their stonewalling was flat-out dangerous.
Schumer can spin this as a win all he wants, but that doesn’t change the facts. None of the Democrats’ demands for ICE were met. They got nothing they wanted.
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