President Trump appears to be preparing for the legislative process to get stuck again, even if congressional Republicans have a plan to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down since mid-February. It’s a crisis created by Democrats. The key agency has been hamstrung during Operation Epic Fury, among other issues. Yes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol are funded through the Big Beautiful Bill, but that only covers frontline troops — the agents; the civilian staff still remains unpaid.
Trump directed DHS to pay TSA agents using funds from last year’s tax cut bill. Those staffers are finally receiving their pay, and airport security lines have become shorter. ICE agents were also dispatched at airports to help with screening. Now, a similar order may be handed down for the civilian staffers at ICE and CBP, based on a new OMB memo:
According to a memo that OMB sent to Congress, it appears the White House plans to take “additional executive action” to pay civilian support employees at ICE & CBP via the OBBB since they aren’t being paid now and won’t be paid through appropriations because the Senate DHS bill… pic.twitter.com/fnrjOsM9do
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 2, 2026
The Republicans’ first mistake was thinking they could secure Democratic votes for a regular DHS funding measure this winter. They’re unhinged, folks. Their base is equally unspooled, and they had zero interest in caving on this one. That’s why they proposed a split bill—funding DHS without ICE and CBP—which Democrats wanted but then reneged on at the last minute. That’s all you need to know about that party right now, and it reinforces the idea that maybe we need to nuke the legislative filibuster to pass additional funding measures, the SAVE America Act, and other top items on the MAGA agenda without further obstruction from Schumer and his band of losers.
I’m now ready to nuke it. Thune, however, doesn’t operate that way, but he better start showing some guts soon.