Long queues formed at the airports due to the budget dispute.Image: keystone
After weeks of blockade, an end to the US partial shutdown is within reach. After an agreement seemed a long way off on Thursday evening, US media reported a surprising turnaround on Friday morning.
Mar 27, 2026, 9:11 a.mMar 27, 2026, 9:11 a.m
Accordingly, the Republicans in the Senate accepted the Democrats’ proposal. This stipulates that employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard and the Civil Protection Authority will be funded until the end of the budget year, reports Politico. The immigration authorities ICE and the Border Patrol are excluded.
It was precisely these that caused the partial shutdown. ICE should also be co-financed with the budget money. Democrats called for stricter rules in enforcing immigration laws. For example, they insisted that officers were not allowed to wear masks and were only allowed to force entry into an apartment with a search warrant.
There should be no changes to immigration regulations like this Wall Street Journal reported. So the Democrats also had to make a compromise. After the agreement in the Senate, the House of Representatives now also has to agree. US President Trump also has to sign. Shortly before the agreement, he had announced that he wanted to sign an order to pay the salaries of TSA employees.
The agreement should also ease the situation at US airports. Because many TSA employees took sick leave due to non-payment of wages, there were personnel shortages. As a result, the queues for security checks continued to grow. Most recently, Trump ordered ICE officers to help out at the airports – which was met with criticism. (front)