A partial shutdown of the federal government has begun. But unlike the record 43-day shutdown last fall, the closures will be narrowly confined this time. Only agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security are affected. But the work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will mostly continue unabated, despite Democrats’ demands for changes. President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided those two agencies with tens of billions of dollars in new money that now can be used for Trump's deportation operations. Services like airport screening could suffer if the shutdown drags on for weeks.
