The countdown to a partial US government shutdown has begun. At the centre of the standoff is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that would allocate tens of billions of dollars across the department, including significant funding for immigration enforcement agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
For Democratic leadership, the bill represents an uneasy compromise aimed at keeping the government open. For a growing number of progressive lawmakers, it is a line they refuse to cross.
