Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has warned his fellow Democrats that a government shutdown would not halt Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, noting that the agency is already funded under existing law.
Fetterman issued the warning as Democrats refuse to support a broader spending package that includes ICE funding.
Speaking on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing,” Fetterman said it is “absolutely true” that a shutdown would have little effect on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or ICE.
“It’s absolutely true that [a government shutdown] it’s not going to really deprive any kind of funding from DHS or ultimately ICE because they have those effectively unlimited funds through the big, beautiful bill,” Fetterman said.
Nearly $200 billion has already been allocated to DHS under President Donald Trump’s signature “big, beautiful bill.”
The bill provides long-term funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“So we’re going to have to figure out a way forward,” Fetterman continued, predicting that Democrats and Republicans would ultimately negotiate potential ICE reforms.
“Thankfully, people really got smart and realized, in the Senate, we cannot shut down like our military,” he said.
Fetterman has repeatedly opposed government shutdowns, particularly after last year’s shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
Last week, Senate Democrats and the White House reached a deal to fund the government, but the agreement still awaits review in the House as the partial shutdown entered its third day.
Under the proposal, the DHS funding bill would be stripped from the broader spending package and replaced with a two-week continuing resolution to keep DHS funded while lawmakers negotiate possible limits on ICE operations.
Fetterman said he supports deporting criminal migrants but referenced what he called “the tragedies that happened in Minneapolis.”
He added that he warned President Trump in a phone call to remove Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to avoid “a [Biden’s DHS chief] Mayorkas kind of situation.”
The senator also urged the president to consolidate recent enforcement gains.
“I told him, take the win that you secured our border,” Fetterman said, adding that he endorsed the administration’s border security successes.
“I don’t think America really wants people going after otherwise, you know, hardworking migrants in these communities right now,” he added.
“That’s where I’m at.”
The comments highlight growing acknowledgment among some Democrats that ICE operations will continue regardless of shutdown politics and that negotiations over immigration enforcement are now unavoidable.
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