DHS funding deal reached in Senate, funds TSA and most of Homeland Security, but not ICE and Border Patrol

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol about DHS funding on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The Senate early Friday reached a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes funds for the Transportation Security Administration and most other agencies, but not the immigration operations at the heart of the budget impasse.

What we know:

The Senate unanimously advanced a deal to reopen most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wee hours of Friday morning, 42 days into the shutdown that was spurred by the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Minnesota.

The deal includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and TSA, but without funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and parts of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But it lacked the stringent reforms they desired, like requiring judicial warrants or requiring agents to unmask.

However, ICE and CBP are still flush with roughly $75 billion in cash from Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," giving the agencies a buffer for a time.   The same process used to pass that colossal legislative package will likely be turned to again to fund immigration enforcement.

What they're saying:

"The good news is we anticipated this a year ago. I mean, one of the reasons we front loaded, pre-loaded up the ‘one big, beautiful bill’ with advanced funding for Homeland Security was because we anticipated this was likely going to happen, and it did," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). "I still think it's unfortunate. The Dems wanted reforms. We tried to work with them on reforms. They ended up getting no reforms."

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the outcome could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump's "rogue" immigration operation "does not get more funding without serious reform." 

What's next:

The deal in the Senate needs to be approved by the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., holds a slim majority. Passage will almost certainly require bipartisan support, as lawmakers on the left and right flanks revolt.

TSA workers endured hardship during shutdown 

The funding shutdown has wreaked havoc at airports across the country, resulting in travel delays and even warnings of airport closures as TSA workers missed paychecks and stopped coming to work. Union leaders representing the workers have pushed Congress to reach a deal.

RELATED: TSA wait times still hit record highs with ICE agents in airports

After weeks of missed paychecks, many TSA agents have called in sick or even quit their jobs as financial strains pile up.  Multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates of TSA workers and nearly 500 of the agency's nearly 50,000 transportation security officers have quit during the shutdown. Nationwide on Wednesday, more than 11% of the TSA employees on the schedule missed work, according to DHS. That is more than 3,120 callouts.

On Thursday, President Trump said he would sign an emergency order that would direct the Department of Homeland Security to "immediately pay" Transportation Security Administration agents.

In a post published on his Truth Social account, the president said that he wanted to quickly stop the "Chaos at the Airports."

"It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it! I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports," Trump’s post read in part. 

If the Senate package is approved by the House and signed into law, the action Trump announced to pay TSA agents may be temporary or unneeded.