The DHS crisis is squeezing Susan Collins

Susan Collins is stuck in the middle of an ICE storm.

The Maine Republican and Senate Appropriations Committee chair is working overtime to salvage a package of six funding bills hanging by a thread after the Saturday killing of a Minnesota man by federal agents. The scramble follows months of work to put the appropriations process back on track in the wake of a record government shutdown.

How Collins navigates the fight will have reverberations far beyond whether or not Congress manages to avoid falling over the shutdown cliff for the second time in four months. The 73-year-old — who intends to seek a sixth term this November — is already under a microscope from Democrats back home after the Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement operation in her state.

Collins, who said earlier this month she didn’t “see the rationale for a large number of ICE agents” in Maine, spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday, later telling reporters Tuesday she urged Noem to pause “this surge of enforcement” in Minnesota and Maine “until we can get far better focus.”

On Capitol Hill, she’s part of a group of senators who are trying to defuse the shutdown fight, including by exploring actions President Donald Trump could have his agencies take without needing to strip DHS funding out of the pending spending package as Democrats are demanding.

“We are having conversations with all the parties,” Collins said in an interview Tuesday, referring to the White House and Democrats.

As to whether or not a shutdown is inevitable, she separately told reporters “it depends on whether people look at the consequences.”

She pointed to Trump’s decision to send border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis as a sign that the administration is willing to make policy changes in the wake of Saturday’s shooting. But just sending in Homan won’t be enough to appease Democrats.

Republicans, including Collins, are loath to do that because any changes to the six-bill package would virtually guarantee a partial shutdown starting 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The House would need to approve any changes to the package, and the chamber is in recess until Monday.

Republican leaders are also wary of an internal backlash to any revised bill, with the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus warning Monday that they would oppose any measure that did not include money for DHS.

Democrats say the deployment of DHS agents in Collins’ home state is justification enough for pulling apart the funding package she’s trying to salvage this week.

“All you have to do is look at what's happening in Minnesota, look at what's happening in Maine,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a senior Democratic appropriator, told reporters. “And I think that this is why everyone's got to vote to rein in Trump's ICE operation.”

Collins acknowledged on the Senate floor Monday that the killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota Saturday refocused attention on Homeland Security funding and whether more guardrails are needed for the immigration agencies under its purview.

“I recognize that and share the concerns,” she said.

But she noted that the funding package includes “many safeguards” on DHS funding and that the majority of the department’s budget covers work unrelated to immigration enforcement, including TSA, the Coast Guard and FEMA.

The political backdrop could hardly be more fraught for Collins. She was already dealing with a complicated relationship with Trump, with the president attacking her and several other GOP senators just this month for supporting an effort to rein in military action in Venezuela. They “should never be elected to office again,” Trump announced — with Collins the only in-cycle Republican among those targeted.

Collins also voted against the Trump-backed “Big, Beautiful Bill” last year and a separate $9 billion funding clawback pushed by the White House. Still, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other GOP colleagues have publicly defended Collins as essential to keeping the Maine seat in Republican hands.

But her well-documented willingness to break from her party has done little to stop Democrats back home from linking her to Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. The Maine Democratic Party accused Collins of “choosing Donald Trump over the people of Maine” and “leading the charge to pass more funding for ICE.”

One of her aspiring Democratic challengers, Gov. Janet Mills, leaned into the immigration fight during her State of the State speech Tuesday night — the latest indication of how it is potentially reorienting midterm politics.

“Tonight, I say to the people of Maine: We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced,” Mills said.

Back in Washington, Collins is speaking with Democrats on the Appropriations Committee and members of the Trump administration, as well as fellow Republicans including Thune and Sen. Katie Britt, the top Homeland Security appropriator.

Whether Collins can hold the funding package together and avoid a partial shutdown, most Hill Republicans believe, will ultimately come down to what Trump and congressional Democrats can agree to.

Thune cited “good conversations” involving Collins and Britt, before adding: “The other thing too is making sure that they’re engaged in the White House.”

Democrats believe Republicans are open to immigration enforcement changes — and are speaking out about Saturday’s shooting — in large part because of the potential electoral ramifications coming in November.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, another Democratic appropriator, said Republicans are only concerned about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions “in the context of elections right now.”

“So they talk about Maine — there's a reason that there's extra attention to Maine,” Merkley said in an interview. “I'd like to see some actual principles exhorted by the Republican leadership in both houses — to stand up.”