Sen. Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to the media as Cabinet officials deliver congressional briefings on Iran at the Capitol in Washington, March 3, 2026.
Heather Diehl | Getty Images
Congressional Democrats sent a new counteroffer to the White House to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, a step that may indicate a thaw in the shutdown of the agency that began Feb. 14.
The shutdown comes as Democrats demand changes to how federal immigration enforcement operates in exchange for releasing the funding after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by DHS officers in Minneapolis. The Democrats and President Donald Trump‘s White House have been trading proposals for over a month but have not yet clinched a deal.
The latest Democratic counteroffer was sent late last night, a person familiar with the negotiations said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations. The person declined to detail what’s in the Democrats’ latest volley.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, told CNBC the White House has received the counteroffer and is reviewing it. The official also did not offer any details included in the Democrats’ latest proposal.
Later Tuesday, the White House rec detailed what it is offering in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala. The letter was obtained by MS Now.
The letter, written by Border Czar Tom Homan and Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs James Braid, said the administration has “offered to codify improved operational guidelines to its immigration enforcement operations.”
Among the administration’s concessions are greater adoption and enforcement of body camera use, limiting enforcement at hospitals and schools, increased enforcement of visible officer identification, increasing oversight requirements of DHS detention facilities and codifying a practice of not knowingly arresting U.S. citizens unless they commit a crime.
Some of the concessions, however, are assertions that the administration will abide by statutes already codified in law.
The letter from the White House is the first indication of what the Trump administration is willing to agree to in the monthslong talks. Democrats have not detailed how they have budged in their latest counteroffer.
Democrats on Tuesday said the administration’s concessions still fall short.
“They’ve got to get serious,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “The key issues of warrants when you bust in someone’s house, the key issue of identity of police, no masks, they haven’t budged on those, they’ve got to get serious.”
The shutdown at DHS has been less disruptive than last year’s record-long broader government shutdown. Much of DHS is considered essential, meaning employees are continuing to work without pay.
But the effects of the funding lapse are being seen in airports, where Transportation Security Administration agents are quitting or calling out rather than working without pay. They and other DHS employees missed their first full paychecks last week. The shortage of agents has caused massive pileups at security checkpoints.
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