DHS funding set to expire as talks over immigration enforcement reforms stall

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

News, Daily News, Politics

4.4 • 25.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire at the end of the day Friday, after congressional leaders’ negotiations over reforms to immigration enforcement operations stalled. We discuss what a shutdown of the department means in practical terms, plus what we learned when immigration agency leaders testified before Congress this week.

This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt, and immigration policy correspondent Ximena Bustillo.

This podcast was produced by Bria Suggs and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It is hard to get a house.
0:02.7	Getting that down payment together, brutal.
0:05.7	You shipped off to Djibouti to afford a down payment for a house?
0:09.4	Yes, sir.
0:10.5	100%.
0:11.1	On Planet Money, the high price of housing.
0:13.9	What the Trump administration is trying to do about it?
0:16.3	And will it work?
0:18.0	Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:24.8	Okay. Will it work? Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there. It's the NPR Politics podcast for Friday, February 13th,
0:30.0	do, do, do, do, 26. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting. I'm Barbara Sprint. I cover Congress.
0:35.4	And I'm Hima Bustillo, and I cover immigration policy.
0:47.4	And today on the show, funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to run out at midnight as Democrats are forcing yet another government shutdown over reforms they want to see with ICE.
0:55.1	Barbara, remind us how we got here and why we're talking about just a specific agency shutting down as opposed to the entire government? Right. It feels almost not right, right? Because we've had so many of
0:59.3	these where it's like the impending massive government shutdown. And this is just a slice. It is
1:04.4	the DHS slice of things. Last month, there were a few appropriations bills that were outstanding
1:10.3	that they needed to get passed by the end of January for fiscal year, 2026 funding.
1:15.1	And last month, the Senate stripped the DHS part of that out from this broader federal spending package, probably, so that other places wouldn't also endure a shutdown.
1:24.8	And they did a stopgap bill for DHS that ended up being just about under two weeks so that parties could work on negotiating changes to the department.
1:33.4	Those negotiations are at a standstill. Of course, funding runs out tonight.
1:37.1	Okay. So then let's get into the negotiations here. What are Democrats actually asking for in exchange for funding this agency?
1:45.5	Yeah. And this is, of course,
	...

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