US President Donald Trump signed a bill to fund Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies on Thursday, bringing an end to a partial department shutdown which has been hindering operations for over two months.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives cleared the bipartisan legislation by voice vote, just hours before a critical deadline.
Shortly after, it was signed into law by the president.
What does the passed DHS funding bill entail?
Under the legislation, agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service will resume normal funding.
But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol — two controversial agencies at the center of the partisan fight which triggered the shutdown — are excluded from the deal.
Democrats had refused to support funding for immigration enforcement without new restrictions on tactics such as raids in sensitive locations and the use of masks by ICE agents. Democratic resistance to funding the two bodies intensified after the killing of two people in Minnesota by federal agents earlier this year.
Representative Chip Roy, a key Texas Republican, said isolating the immigration-related money was “offensive to the men and women who serve in ICE and Border Patrol, and are serving this country every single day.”
Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than 70 days ago, said: “It’s about damn time.”
Edited by: Rana Taha, Zac Crellin
