Democrats make political bet on DHS demands, despite GOP’s Iran warnings

A week after President Trump launched strikes against Iran, Democrats are digging in against reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without significant reforms to the agency. 

Party leaders are amplifying their demands for tougher rules governing agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Rank-and-file Democrats appear to be fully on board. And a test vote in the House on Thursday demonstrated that, if anything, the Iran conflict has only solidified the party’s support behind the leadership position. 

“My concern about DHS is their absolute disregard of the Constitution and American citizens’ civil rights,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the head of the New Democrat Coalition. “So until we see officers who abuse citizens’ civil rights held to full account, until we restore full congressional oversight, I’m not giving another penny to ICE and CBP.”

The strategy carries political risks, as Republicans warn of the threat to national security if DHS remains shuttered indefinitely during the Iran campaign, which shows no signs of ending soon. In the wake of the strikes, GOP leaders wasted no time in invoking the conflict to force Democrats to abandon their push for immigration reforms and back a GOP bill reopening DHS.

“It’s infuriating,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters this week in the Capitol. 

“The Democrats have shut down the agency responsible for keeping Americans safe.”

Democrats have dismissed those partisan alarms, betting that voter concerns about Trump’s militant approach to immigration enforcement will outweigh any blame they receive for refusing to fund DHS without tougher rules for immigration officers.

“Our view is simple: abandon your my-way-or-the-highway approach,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “You’re not intimidating anybody.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) was even more blunt, saying Trump heightened the threat the moment he attacked Iran. 

“I don’t want any lectures today about threats to our homeland security. Those threats have increased exponentially because this president chose to unilaterally launch a recklessly misguided regime-change war in the Middle East,” McGovern said. 

“Our country is less safe by the hour because of Donald Trump’s chaos and stupidity.”

The partisan fight over DHS funding stems from the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis in January. In the wake of those deaths, Democrats in both chambers demanded new guardrails for DHS law enforcement as a condition of funding the department — a list that includes a ban on face masks, body camera mandates and new warrant requirements preceding arrests. 

The White House and Senate Democrats have traded proposals in search of a compromise, but they haven’t reached a deal. 

The Democratic opposition to the DHS funding bill is not unanimous. 

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) questioned why his fellow Democrats would oppose legislation that would liberate funds to pay airport screeners at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and field workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), all while the federal immigration agencies at the center of the controversy are still being funded under a separate law. 

“No one’s getting paid but, like, ICE and Border Patrol, right? So what leverage do they think they have?” Golden asked. “I’m not for punishing TSA agents and FEMA employees to go after an agency that’s feeling zero effect.” 

“Whether or not this new situation [in Iran] has any bearings is beside the point.”

But Golden is in a small and shrinking minority of House Democrats. When the DHS funding bill came to the floor in January, seven Democrats voted against it. When Republicans put virtually the same bill on the floor on Thursday, the number of Democratic opponents dropped to four.

Part of the Democrats’ confidence that they won’t suffer any political blowback over the impasse stems from the fact that they’ve offered alternative bills to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard,  and the other parts of DHS except ICE and CBP — bills that have been rejected by Republicans. 

Democrats have also been boosted by polls showing that voters, even Republicans, have soured on Trump’s deportation agenda in the wake of the Minneapolis shootings. They say they’re merely standing up for what those voters are demanding.

“All Democrats are asking for are guardrails: Don’t go beat up American citizens. No masks. Cameras. And we want to know what kind of training you guys have,” said Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.). “That’s commonsense stuff that we’ve had before — stuff that we require from the local sheriff, local police.”

Asked if Democrats are ready to hold that line as long as it takes to get those reforms in place, Correa didn’t hesitate. 

“We have to,” he said.

There are several wild cards in the debate. 

One of those came Thursday, when Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her. Noem was toxic in the eyes of Democrats, and some are now cautiously hoping that Mullin, who served in the House for a decade before jumping to the Senate, will be less aggressive in his approach to immigration enforcement. 

Jeffries emphasized that Democrats won’t drop their demands for DHS reforms just because Noem is gone, but he also characterized the leadership shake-up as “a step in the direction of acknowledging that things at the Department of Homeland Security were broken.”

Other Democrats aren’t so sure. Mullin is a close Trump ally, and some lawmakers predicted he’ll simply adopt whatever position the president demands, thereby preventing any thaw in the DHS funding freeze. 

“Maybe with Kristi Noem being fired we’ll see something different,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.). “But I’ve known Markwayne for a while. I think he’ll toe the president’s line.”

Another major wild card is the simple question of how long the Iran conflict will last. Some top administration officials have insisted there will be no protracted fight, but Trump and others have left plenty of space for a more open-ended operation. 

“We have objectives,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week. “We will do this as long as it takes.”

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) acknowledged that a drawn-out conflict might put “more pressure on us than it does them” to reopen DHS. But the more likely scenario, Lynch said, is that a lengthy fight would result in a series of unsavory developments — including more U.S. casualties and higher gas prices — that would overtake the DHS debate and create big challenges for Trump and Republicans.

“The pressure points will be elsewhere,” Lynch said. “Gas continues to go up. We start to see more casualties. We get people on the ground, and the president hasn’t yet come before Congress or come before the American people to explain the strategy here — I think that becomes more important, or more urgent, than some of the other questions about whether TSA screeners are getting paid or not.” 

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Tillis calls on Miller to depart White House: ‘Out of his depth’ 

Trump says he won’t sign any bills into law until SAVE America Act passes

Tillis: Republicans have ‘lost the debate’ on immigration

As DOJ lawyers face complaints, agency seeks tighter grasp on state bar ethics ...

Trump rejects UK's offer to send aircraft carriers to Middle East: 'We will ...

Seventh US service member dies in Iran conflict

Democrats make political bet on DHS demands, despite GOP’s Iran warnings

Catalytic converter theft is back. Here’s who’s being targeted

Trump Accounts: IRS announces rules proposal for $1K payments

19 states approved permanent daylight saving time. Why they still have to ...

Talarico turns toward general as Texas GOP Senate primary heads to runoff 

Kansas City airport terminal reopened after evacuation

Kennedy: Noem was ‘dead as fried chicken’ after Senate hearing

Here’s who could run to replace Mullin after DHS nomination 

America’s military has an Iranian drone problem

Senate Republican says Trump’s Iran strikes could impact China, Russia

Senate Democrat says Stephen Miller was ‘calling the shots’ at DHS under ...

Daines’s last-minute retirement maneuver leaves Capitol Hill stunned — and ...

© The Hill