In a dramatic turn of events, it took four terrorist attacks over just 12 days to prompt a significant shift in the stance of a key Democrat regarding the funding of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). After a month-long Democratic blockade of DHS funding, resistance crumbled on Friday when Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan announced the urgent need to finance the agency amid increasing threats from Iranian-linked extremists.
Previously, Democrats had consistently rejected bipartisan efforts to reopen the DHS, which has been effectively paralyzed. However, Slotkin’s recent statement marks a pivotal change. The Michigan senator is now advocating for the separation of the contentious Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discussions from the broader conversation about DHS funding.
“It’s essential that we ensure funding for the Department of Homeland Security,” Slotkin stated, emphasizing that, in her view, discussions regarding ICE should be held independently from the core missions of the DHS.
READ MORE: White House Criticizes Democrats for ‘Reckless’ DHS Shutdown as TSA Wait Times Increase
Watch: Democrats Accused of Peak Hypocrisy and Unreasonable Demands Amid Continued DHS Funding Blockade
SLOTKIN: “Certainly, we need to fund the Department of Homeland Security.” pic.twitter.com/VWo3a2eNuQ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 13, 2026
READ MORE: White House Blasts Dems ‘Reckless’ DHS Shutdown As TSA Lines Get Longer
Watch: Dems Reveal Peak Hypocrisy and Unbelievable Demand As They Continue Blocking DHS Funding
Slotkin voted against that proposition just yesterday. Yesterday!
ICE, as Fox News analyst Guy Benson explains, is fully funded for the next three years. A fact that highlights the fact that Democrats have been playing politics from the get-go when it comes to TSA and DHS.
“For her to say that ‘certainly’ we need to fund Homeland Security—I agree—but I’m not the one who voted to keep it closed yesterday, which is what she did,” Benson said in an appearance on the network this morning.
It only took repeated acts of jihadist-inspired violence to get her to crack. She watched shootings in Austin and at Old Dominion University, and a failed (by the grace of God) IED plot in New York City, and essentially said, ‘You know what, I’m still not convinced.’
But on Thursday, just hours after an ISIS-sympathizing gunman shouting “Allahu Akhbar” killed decorated veteran Lt. Col. Brandon Shah at ODU, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese national, weaponized his vehicle against a synagogue in Michigan, in what the FBI described as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
And that appears to be what has finally broken Slotkin. Or was it?
Sen. Slotkin (D-MI), re: the terror attack in her state, just said DHS needs to be funded. She voted YESTERDAY to keep it unfunded/closed. That vote ended after she publicly acknowledged the attack on social media. Four jihadist attacks on the Homeland in two weeks. DHS closed. pic.twitter.com/lGAVnHXKlh
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 13, 2026
“There was a vote on this yesterday, which finished, by the way, AFTER the attack in Michigan, in her state. She reacted on social media to that terrorist attack in her state before the vote ended that kept the Democrat filibuster alive, meaning that the DHS department remains closed,” Benson explained. “She made that choice to vote to maintain the shuttering, the temporary closing of our Homeland Security agency.”
“And then she comes on the cameras today and says, ‘Well, certainly we need to fund it,’” he added. “She had the chance to do so yesterday, and she chose not to.”
A motion to proceed to a House-passed bill to reopen DHS failed Thursday when 46 Democrats voted against it. The lone person in favor of funding the department was Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA).
🚨 BREAKING: Democrats have ONCE AGAIN blocked the bill to re-open DHS — DESPITE the MULTIPLE terror threats and attacks across the US over the past 10 days, 51-46
THIS IS INSANE.
BLOOD is on @SenSchumer‘s hands! pic.twitter.com/fsmo0HyUlB
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 12, 2026
Slotkin isn’t the only prominent voice on the left to seemingly finally grasp the gravity of what they’ve been doing by defunding the very department designed to protect the homeland from terrorist attacks.
Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama, is another rare example of someone who has somewhat come to their senses on the matter.
“I believe we are in a heightened threat environment,” Johnson told Fox News’ Bill Melugin earlier today. “Most likely because of events in the Middle East. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. We can decapitate the leadership there, but that does not decapitate the ability to be a state sponsor of terrorists.”
“It does not decapitate the ability to inspire acts of terrorism, including acts of terrorism here in the homeland. And so, bottom line to all of this, we need to fund, Congress needs to fund, the department that exists to ensure homeland security.”
🚨Even Obama’s DHS Secretary is calling on Democrats to cut the nonsense and fund DHS:
“I believe we are in a heightened threat environment […] Bottom line to all of this: We need to fund — Congress needs to fund — the department that exists to ensure homeland security.” pic.twitter.com/HhGUupJfTe
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 13, 2026
Something has changed, as Melugin states. But look at what it took to get Democrats to show even basic signs of backing away from their ridiculous political games.
The Austin shooting on March 1st, which killed three people? Not enough to crack.
The IED attack in NYC, for which one perpetrator said he hoped would kill many more than were murdered in the Boston Marathon bombing? Meh.
The ODU Islamic terrorist, who, if he had not been subdued and stabbed by students, might have continued his killing spree? Hold the line.
The synagogue attack … Maybe—MAYBE—we’ve gone a little too far.
The question now is, will Slotkin and Johnson’s comments be enough to sway Democrats to vote in favor of funding DHS? Or will they continue to enable more attacks with the sole intent of pleasing their low-information voters by pretending they’re taking a stand against ICE? Time will tell.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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