Democrats have voted against DHS funding as part of their opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They’re calling for new limits on ICE’s operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in January. On This Week, Karl argued that blocking DHS funding was causing broader disruptions, especially since ICE already has partial funding.
“I guess what’s confusing here is you have fought and blocked the funding for the Department of Homeland Security because you object, as you just outlined, to what ICE has been doing, and you wanted to force changes,” Karl said. “And yet, the only thing that has been assured throughout all of this is that ICE already has the money, because as you said, $75 billion passed in the budget bill last year. So you’re holding up the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security because you object to ICE and you want changes to ICE. But through it all, ICE continues to have the money it needs.”
Van Hollen pushed back, calling that a “false statement” and saying Democrats are not blocking all DHS funding. He pointed to their support for agencies like TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard.
“We are not prepared to give ICE another $10 billion on top of the monies they already have and are using in many of these lawless operations,” he said.
🚨 BREAKING: In a stunning moment, even Fake News ABC just CALLED OUT Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for shutting down ALL of DHS in political games
BRUTAL. pic.twitter.com/lTjhQYY0At
ABC: What’s CONFUSING is you blocked funding for DHS because of ICE, and YET, the only thing that’s…
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 29, 2026
Karl countered that refusing the additional ICE funding is effectively holding up the rest of DHS. Van Hollen interrupted to insist Democrats are not the ones standing in the way.
“You’re holding up unless it doesn’t include money for ICE,” Karl said. “That’s just a fact.”
“Unless it doesn’t include money for ICE, a very reformed ICE. That’s right,” Van Hollen replied.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has deployed ICE agents to help TSA workers manage long airport lines during the shutdown, as many TSA employees are working without pay.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to support a full-year DHS funding bill. The rest of the party has held firm, opposing funding measures that don’t include broader changes to ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
At this point, ICE and CBP are the only DHS agencies with funding, following the passage of the GOP-backed One Big, Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025.
