REPORT: Senate Republicans Cave, Agree To Democrat Demands On Defunding ICE Removals

Senate Republicans are developing a plan to provide funding for most operations of the Department of Homeland Security while excluding certain programs within Immigration and Customs Enforcement, specifically those focused on enforcement and removal. The approach — which concedes to a number of Democrat demands — aims to resolve a partial government shutdown affecting DHS that has continued for more than five weeks.

The proposal emerged following a White House meeting and subsequent Republican conference discussions, according to a report from Fox News. It would maintain funding for ICE investigations targeting cartels, human traffickers, and child predators but leave the agency’s illegal alien enforcement and removal operations unfunded. This framework mirrors proposals Democrats have previously advanced on the Senate floor, which Republicans had blocked.

Earlier Republican positions in appropriations talks had opposed funding DHS while excluding ICE enforcement elements, insisting on broader protections or reforms. The current plan effectively departs from those earlier demands, allowing the partial shutdown to extend without securing corresponding concessions on funding levels or policy changes that Republicans had sought in prior appropriations frameworks.

Thune has described the discussions as productive and expressed hope for resolution, while noting that the absence of funding for enforcement operations limits options for demanding related reforms.

Under the emerging plan, Republicans intend to fund the majority of DHS through standard appropriations processes. However, provisions for the excluded ICE enforcement and removal operations could be addressed separately through budget reconciliation. Reconciliation allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

This mechanism is reserved for measures with direct budgetary impacts. Republicans have discussed the possibility of using reconciliation to restore funding for ICE enforcement activities at a later stage, but with no guarantees, and after giving Democrats what they want.

Any initial DHS funding agreement would still require Democrat support to achieve the 60 votes necessary to clear a filibuster in the Senate. Coordination with the House of Representatives remains unresolved, as the proposal has not been pre-vetted with House Republicans.

In addition, broader concerns have been raised about potential national security implications and operational disruptions, such as extended lines at airports, if the shutdown persists. Even if reconciliation is pursued for ICE funding, its scope is constrained by Senate rules requiring provisions to be primarily fiscal rather than policy-driven.

Republicans have also explored incorporating select elements of the SAVE America Act into a reconciliation package. The SAVE America Act, which requires proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections and includes voter ID requirements, has been a top priority for the White House and the majority of the Republican conference.

Fiscal aspects of the legislation, such as withholding federal funds from states that do not require photo identification for voting, were considered for inclusion because they involve budgetary decisions. However, such provisions would still need approval from the Senate parliamentarian, who reviews reconciliation measures for compliance with the Byrd Rule, which bars extraneous policy matters.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the lead sponsor of the SAVE America Act, has stated that attaching the legislation to reconciliation is largely not feasible. “It’s hard to imagine how the SAVE America Act could be passed through reconciliation. And by ‘hard’ I mean ‘essentially impossible,'” he said in a video statement.

🚨 JUST IN: Sen. Mike Lee tells John Thune and other senators NO, the SAVE America Act can NOT be passed with reconciliation, which was floated because it only needs 50 votes

"It can't pass through budget reconciliation because it's a policy, it is not budgetary and even if you… pic.twitter.com/9qs3EVkAbA

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 24, 2026

“The SAVE America Act doesn’t meet the standard characteristics of a budget reconciliation bill because it is not budgetary. We’ve got only a 10-vote closure deficit to overcome here. This is a simpler bill, and it’s preferred by 85 percent of American voters,” the senator explained in a separate interview.

Republicans have sought a commitment from Lee to defer full debate on the SAVE America Act until after the Easter and Passover recess, in exchange for potential inclusion of limited fiscal components in reconciliation. The standalone bill currently lacks sufficient votes for passage under regular order, and Thune has practically shelved discussions on deploying the talking filibuster.

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