Far-right Freedom Caucus breaks with Trump on DHS funding: report

The far-right Freedom Caucus is openly defying Donald Trump by rejecting his endorsed two-step funding plan for the Department of Homeland Security — a stunning rebuke that exposes the fracturing Republican Party and leaves Speaker Mike Johnson, once again, scrambling to hold his caucus together.

According to The Hill's Emily Brooks, the Freedom Caucus issued an official statement Tuesday publicly rejecting Trump's compromise, which would fund most of DHS through a bipartisan Senate bill while using budget reconciliation to separately fund ICE and Border Patrol.

"We cannot leave ICE and CBP hanging with nothing but hopes and prayers that reconciliation 2.0 comes together. That's why we must use reconciliation to fully fund ALL of the Department of Homeland Security!" the Freedom Caucus declared on X.

The defiance is particularly striking because Trump himself endorsed the two-step plan last week alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Johnson. But the hardliners aren't backing down.

"We must provide robust funding for ICE and CBP, and it should be done with all of DHS in reconciliation 2.0. We can fund DHS for the rest of the President's term to ensure Democrats can never again take our nation's security hostage."

"We will never hand Democrats their ultimate prize: A defunded ICE, handcuffed CBP, and criminal aliens terrorizing our communities," the caucus added — language that suggests the hardliners view Trump's compromise as capitulation.

Johnson faces an impossible task. He had already rejected the two-step plan as a "joke" before Trump forced him to publicly support it. Now the Freedom Caucus is calling his bluff, demanding a full GOP reconciliation bill that funds all of DHS at once.

Trump's recent executive order paying DHS employees despite the shutdown eliminated the political pressure that typically forces deals. The Freedom Caucus is now exploiting that breathing room to push for total victory rather than compromise.

The intraparty warfare signals a prolonged DHS funding battle ahead — and growing evidence that even Trump's endorsement can't unite a fractured Republican caucus.