Democratic Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) told MSNBC host Al Sharpton on March 15, 2026, that Democrats deliberately blocked DHS funding to force defunding of ICE, despite Trump’s $75 billion allocation for immigration enforcement in the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Clyburn insisted the shutdown had “nothing to do with TSA, FEMA, or the Coast Guard” and accused ICE of “killing people” and hiding identities. Senate Democrats have filibustered the bill, demanding reforms such as judicial warrants and restrictions on ICE operations following fatal shootings in Minnesota.
“The fact of the matter is, this is an issue about ICE. Not anything to do with TSA, not anything to do with FEMA, nothing to do with the Coast Guard,” the long-time Democratic swamp creature admitted in the interview.
He also claimed, “All of these are wrapped up in this bill that the Republicans are refusing to put on the floor. We will vote for them, but we are not going to fund ICE to continue killing people, to continue masking themselves so no one can identify them.”
Doubling down on X, he added, “Democrats wanted to fund DHS except for ICE and CBP, while we worked through commonsense reforms that protect the American people and our communities. Republicans refused.”
Clyburn alleged, “Instead, they plan to spend the next few months passing a partisan bill to fund ICE and CBP on their own—without reforms—instead of doing anything to lower your costs or rein in Trump’s war in Iran. Those are the priorities of Trump and his Republican Party.”
In another seething post, the Democrat stated, “Senate Republicans offered Trump a plan to fund DHS without ICE so we could get TSA agents paid and put an end to this madness that’s happening at the airports.”
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“He rejected it. Instead, he wants to keep fighting Democrats on our common-sense proposals to put safeguards on ICE and CBP,” Rep. James Clyburn claimed, “He’s even saying Republicans shouldn’t negotiate a deal at all until Democrats vote to pass his so-called “SAVE America Act,” legislation that would cause great harm to our democracy and is totally unrelated to DHS funding,” adding, “He’s more focused on what he perceives to be his political interest than making sure TSA workers get paid.”
Clyburn added, “Today, I joined House Democrats in signing a petition to force a vote on a bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security without including ICE and CBP. If passed, this bill would fund key agencies like TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard and ensure their workers are paid.”
Still not done, the South Carolina Representative then asserted, “At the same time, Democrats would continue negotiating with President Trump on common-sense reforms to ICE and CBP, especially in response to the lawless conduct we saw in Minneapolis and other cities.”
“I urge my Republican colleagues to join us. As we work through our disagreements on ICE and CBP, there is no good reason for them to block funding for the other parts of DHS we agree on,” he said to conclude his unhinged ravings and accidental exposition of what is really going on.
Watch the clip here:
Featured image from embedded video