One of the most confusing federal-government shutdowns in living memory began at midnight on January 31 when the stopgap-spending authority that ended the last government shutdown in November ran out. The shutdown was triggered by Democratic fury (and Republican misgivings) over ICE and Border Patrol atrocities in Minneapolis. But Congress had to unravel and end the shutdown before it could begin serious negotiations on new guidelines for immigration enforcement.

The Departments of Defense, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and State — along with the department that supervises immigration enforcement, Homeland Security — shut down on Friday night. Other agencies remained open because spending bills affecting them passed both houses of Congress before the Minneapolis crisis began.

But the partial shutdown will end later today after two close votes in the House approved a Senate bill to reopen all government departments other than DHS. That agency will receive stopgap spending authority until February 13 to allow for very difficult negotiations over immigration enforcement policies and tactics.

Here’s how we got here and what we know about what will happen next:

The current crisis began when the House combined six regular appropriations bills into one huge package after allowing a separate vote over DHS funding as protests against ICE were breaking out around the country (it passed narrowly with just seven Democratic votes). The House then adjourned, hoping to “jam” the Senate into approving the whole package and keeping the........

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