抓获”矮子”古斯曼和吹牛老爹的机构面临威胁，民主党引发国土安全部停摆持续近三周

Agency that nabbed El Chapo, Diddy threatened as Democrats’ DHS shutdown drags on

Homeland Security Investigations faces supply delays and travel restrictions as DHS funding standoff nears third week

By Alex Miller
Fox News

Published February 27, 2026 10:47am EST

President Donald Trump blamed Democrats for the partial government shutdown on Tuesday night during his State of the Union address, after Senate Democrats again blocked Republicans’ attempt to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Listen to this article

4 min

The ongoing standoff over Homeland Security funding is raising concerns about the potential impact on Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the agency that has helped bring cases against high-profile figures, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

HSI is one of several agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threatened by the ongoing government shutdown.

That branch of DHS acts as the investigative arm for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — the agency that Democrats want to rein in and reform — and handles investigations into human and sex trafficking, drug trafficking, immigration-related crimes, child exploitation and several other areas.

As the DHS shutdown drags on, Senate Democrats’ refusal to fund the agency could impact Homeland Security Investigations, a key branch that helped nab Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Sean “Diddy” Combs, among others.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was anointed the lead negotiator for Senate Republicans in the ongoing DHS funding back-and-forth, told Fox News Digital the agency’s work is “critically important.”

“When you think about interior enforcement, I mean, HSI is a critical component of that,” Britt said. “You look at what they’ve done, you look at the bad actors they’ve been able to hunt down and hold accountable for human trafficking, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, child pornography, trafficking, all kinds of things.”

Other big names whom HSI has played a role in investigating or indicting include R. Kelly, Josh Duggar, Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and Jared Fogle.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital that Homeland Security Investigations is a critical function of DHS and is being jeopardized by Senate Democrats’ refusal to fund the agency as the shutdown drags on.(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

While ICE and other immigration enforcement operations like HSI were funded in part through Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill,” the lapse in ongoing appropriations could threaten supplies in the field and travel, hampering investigations already underway.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that HSI was continuing to function during the shutdown, with arrests and investigations still happening. But as the current 14-day shutdown continues, delays in supply procurement and travel for “critical personnel to move around the country” could be impacted.

“Our national security and ability to get criminals, including pedophiles and other public safety threats, off the streets could be impacted the longer this Democratic shutdown continues,” they said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that Homeland Security Investigations had been turned into “ICE Junior.”(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Senate Democrats and the White House have so far tried and failed to reach a deal to fund DHS after trading offers and counteroffers in a slow back-and-forth over the last two weeks.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., charged that ICE had been “unleashed without guardrails” throughout the country.

“This is not border security, this is not law and order, this is chaos — created at the top and felt in so many of our neighborhoods,” Schumer said.

And with lawmakers gone from Washington, D.C., for the weekend, the shutdown is guaranteed to stretch into its third week. Senate Democrats want stringent reforms to ICE, including requiring agents to obtain judicial warrants, unmask and provide thorough identification — all demands that are red lines for the Republicans and the White House, who fear that doing so would increase the chances of ICE agents being doxxed.

While Republicans and the administration raised concerns about HSI and other ICE functions, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., countered that from his understanding, “most everybody at HSI is gone.”

“They’ve all been deployed to the interior,” he told Fox News Digital. “Not many, if not most, redeployed to interior enforcement. So the administration has gutted HSI.”

“My impression is that HSI has been one of the agencies that has been essentially turned into ICE Junior,” Murphy said.

Related Article

DHS shutdown drags into week two as Iran threat, SOTU clash complicate Hill talks

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Sponsored Stories You May Like

Sponsored Stories

[image_45]

[image_46]

[image_47]

[image_48]

[image_49]

[image_50]

[image_51]

[image_52]

[image_53]

[image_54]

[image_55]

[image_56]

[image_57]

[image_58]

[image_59]

[image_60]

[image_61]

[image_62]

[image_63]

[image_64]

[image_65]

[image_66]

[image_67]

[image_68]

[image_69]

[image_70]

[image_71]

[image_72]

[image_73]

[image_74]

[image_75]

[image_76]

[image_77]

[image_78]

[image_79]

[image_80]

[image_81]

[image_82]

[image_83]

[image_84]

[image_85]

[image_86]

[image_87]

[image_88]

[image_89]

[image_90]

[image_91]

[image_92]

[image_93]

[image_94]

[image_95]

[image_96]

[image_97]

[image_98]

[image_99]

[image_100]

[image_101]

[image_102]

[image_103]

[image_104]

[image_105]

[image_106]

[image_107]

[image_108]

[image_109]

[image_110]

[image_111]

[image_112]

[image_113]

[image_114]

[image_115]

[image_116]