WASHINGTON — President Trump claimed Sunday evening that he has no interest in any agreement to reopen the Department of Homeland Security that does not also include passage of the SAVE America Act to tighten requirements to vote in federal elections.
Trump threw cold water on a narrow DHS funding deal amid ongoing talks between Senate Republicans and Democrats that have recently centered on separating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spending from funding other agencies, sources told The Post.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations said that White House staff initially suggested passing a bill to reopen the rest of DHS while funding ICE later as part of a budget reconciliation bill.
(From left) Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) attend a press conference in favor of the proposed “SAVE America Act,” which would require proof of citizenship in registering to vote and a photo ID for casting ballots, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2026. REUTERSSenate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) discussed this option with the president earlier Sunday — but Trump rejected it.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday night.
“It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate, and that includes giving these same terrible people, the Dems (who are to blame for this mess!), a Five Billion Dollar cut in ICE funding, a deal which, even when disguised as something else, is unacceptable to me and the American people – UNLESS it includes their approval of Voter I.D., (with picture!), Citizenship to Vote, No Mail-In Voting (with exceptions), All Paper Ballots, No Men In Women’s Sports, and No Transgender MUTILIZATION [sic] of our precious children … In other words, lump everything together as one, and VOTE!!!”
Another source confirmed that Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Democrats’ top appropriator in the upper chamber, and others had sought a meeting with the White House that was rebuffed until Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is confirmed by the Senate as DHS secretary later Monday.
A bipartisan group has been meeting with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on a potential compromise that could receive the needed 60 votes to pass in the upper chamber — so far without success.
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio speak to the media at the White House on March 20, 2026. Andrew Leyden/ZUMA / SplashNews.comSen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has publicly backed the proposal to fund ICE with GOP votes only in order to quickly reopen critical DHS subagencies like the Transportation Security Administration.
Long lines at airport security checkpoints — and the tragic late Sunday collision between an arriving jet and a fire truck at New York’s La Guardia Airport — have added urgency to the funding fight.
With the House and Senate due to leave DC after this week for the Easter and Passover holidays, Trump implored Senate Republicans to override the 60-vote legislative filibuster and “stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.”
Trump, 79, spoke out as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed to roughly a dozen airports across America to assist Transportation Security Administration agents who have been working without pay since the DHS shutdown began Feb. 14.
In a brief phone interview with NewsNation on Sunday afternoon, Trump said he was willing to keep ICE agents in America’s air travel hubs “for as long as it takes.”
“Now that I did this, the Democrats want to make a deal,” he claimed to correspondent Hannah Brandt. “And I don’t think any deal should be made on this until they approve SAVE America. OK? So, you have a scoop.”
Negotiations are underway on Capitol Hill to try to hammer out an agreement to reopen DHS and prevent the shutdown from extending past the two-month mark, but little progress had been made before Trump’s Sunday comments.
“We’ll see if they can land something,” Thune (R-SD) told Politico Sunday morning. “I think the clock’s ticking. If we’re going to get this done, we’ve got to get moving pretty quickly here.”
On the House side, Republican leadership plans to hold at least one more vote to reopen DHS this week, but they have made no plans to cut their break short to wait for any potential deal.
The SAVE America Act would require photo ID when casting ballots and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. It is expected to fail in the Senate due to united Democratic opposition.
“I would include the SAVE Act as part of that reconciliation bill, as well,” Kennedy said in remarks on the Senate floor last week. “I would go get a really smart lawyer and ask them to help us craft a SAVE Act that can survive a Byrd bath” — a reference to the procedure by which the Senate parliamentarian removes provisions from reconciliation bills that aren’t related to budgetary matters.
“I would do those two things in reconciliation or at least open up ICE through reconciliation.”
“We’ll see if they can land something,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told Politico Sunday morning. “I think the clock’s ticking. If we’re going to get this done, we’ve got to get moving pretty quickly here.”
