Most of the government could shut down this weekend. ICE operations would carry on.

WASHINGTON — Most of the federal government could shut down at the end of the week. But it probably wouldn’t stop aggressive ICE and Border Patrol operations in Minneapolis and other parts of the country.

Democrats are angry after Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse and U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis over the weekend. This happened after an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good, another Minneapolis resident and citizen, in her car earlier this month.

Under enormous pressure from the base, Senate Democrats have pledged to block a sweeping government funding bill unless significant restrictions are imposed on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

As Republicans vote on the $1.2 trillion funding plan passed by the House later this week, a partial shutdown starting Saturday now looks increasingly likely. Money is about to run out for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, and many other critical agencies Friday night.

Yet even if Democrats shut down the government, ICE operations would likely not be significantly hampered. Under the DHS shutdown plan, a senior GOP source said, ICE employees would be considered “excluded” workers and would be required to continue reporting to work, even though they would not be paid, like other workers.

On top of that, even in the event of a shutdown, ICE would continue to have sufficient funding since the agency received an additional $75 billion for detention and enforcement from Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year, the Republican Party source noted.

The source also argued that if DHS were funded through another interim measure, known as a continuing resolution or “CR,” it would have more flexibility to move money within the agency to support ICE operations than under the massive funding bill in question.

Although she voted against the DHS funding bill in the House, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, which authored the funding bill, made many of the same arguments when unveiling the bipartisan legislation last week.

“ICE received $75 billion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In the event of a funding shortfall, ICE would be able to maintain regular operations for several years, while other agencies covered by this bill would likely be forced to lay off employees and scale back operations,” DeLauro’s office explained.

“A continuing resolution would extend funding for ICE enforcement and removal operations at their current level, instead of reducing it by $115 million, and would exclude the new safeguards contained in this funding measure for a full year,” his office said.

Although DeLauro noted that the negotiated funding deal did not include comprehensive ICE reforms, he kept ICE funding stable for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends October 1. It also reduces the number of ICE detention beds by 5,500 and includes $20 million for body cameras for ICE agents. (DHS is currently reviewing footage from multiple body-worn cameras in Pretti’s killing, sources told NBC News on Monday).

Congress has already passed, and President Donald Trump signed into law, six of the 12 full-year appropriations bills, meaning some agencies are funded through September 30. This includes funding for the Ministries of Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, Interior, Veterans Affairs, as well as the Legislative Branch. Smithsonian museums and national parks would remain open since they are funded by domestic appropriations. SNAP benefits, formerly known as “food stamps,” also would not be affected by a shutdown.

But the other six appropriations bills not yet passed by Congress represent $1.2 trillion in federal spending, or nearly 80% of the total amount Congress plans to allocate for fiscal year 2026. The majority of that funding is for the Department of Defense ($831 billion).

Since the House consolidated the remaining six funding bills and sent them to the Senate, a shutdown would impact many important agencies.

In addition to the Pentagon and DHS, they include the Departments of State, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.

Shutting down DHS — one of the government’s most sprawling agencies — would mean that FEMA, TSA and Coast Guard employees would not be paid, even though they would be required to work.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Monday that Democrats were prepared to pass the other five appropriations bills if they were separated from the DHS funding bill. But Republicans see no incentive to take that route, believing Democrats will be blamed for voting against a bipartisan, bicameral deal already agreed to by Democratic negotiators.

If government funding expires at the end of the week, it would mark the second federal shutdown in four months during Trump’s second term. Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill last fall, demanding that the Republican Party include an extension of the expiring Obamacare tax credits.

It shut down the government for 43 days – the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Eight Democrats ultimately relented, voting with Republicans to reopen the government without a deal on health care subsidies. Polls showed that Republicans were more responsible for the shutdown than Democrats.