Standoff over masked agents stokes shutdown

Essential Homeland Security functions will go on, but paychecks might stop coming.

- BY ANA CEBALLOS AND ANDREA CASTILLO

GRAEME SLOAN Bloomberg ARIZONA Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, riding the Senate subway Thursday, voted to block funding.

A dispute over whether federal immigration agents should be allowed to wear masks during enforcement operations has become one of the biggest obstacles to keeping the Department of Homeland Security funded, pushing the government toward a partial shutdown early Saturday.

Democrats have described the practice as corrosive to public trust, arguing that masked agents create the appearance of a “secret police” force. Republican lawmakers, President Trump and his top advisors, meanwhile, have drawn a hard line against requiring officers to remove their face coverings, insisting that doing so would expose them to harassment, threats and online doxxing.

"They want our law enforcement to be totally vulnerable and put them in a lot of danger," Trump said at a White House event Thursday. He added that it would be "very, very hard to approve" Democrats' demands, such as unmasking federal officers.

The standoff over masking stalled negotiations as lawmakers raced to meet a funding deadline for the Department of Homeland Security at midnight Friday. Without a deal, key agency functions — from airport security to disaster relief coordination — could be affected if the shutdown drags on.

As with every shutdown, the agency's essential functions will continue to operate, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant Homeland Security secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. But employees performing those functions at agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration could go without pay if the shutdown stretches for weeks.

The heads of those agencies told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommitte Wednesday that the shutdown is expected to create severe and lasting challenges.