Government Shutdown Again? - What Works & What Doesn’t - Bye, Bye PBI? Top 3 Takeaways - February 13th, 2026
Takeaway #1: Deadline Day
As of Yesterday, when Border Czar Tom Homan, who took over ICE’s operational command in Minnesota after the Alex Pretti killing, announced the end of the Minneapolis ICE surge activities, approximately 25% of the 2,700 ICE agents operating in the area had already left. Over the next week all but “a small footprint” of ICE agents will depart too. The end of Operation Metro Surge has come as Homan struck a strong but conciliatory tone. The key for Homan, aside from restoring civility to the city, has been his ability to convince state and local government officials to comply with federal law under ICE’s 287(g) program – meaning that local law enforcement agencies are to hand over illegal aliens in custody to ICE as opposed to releasing them back into communities. This has been happening now for nearly two weeks, which is in part why Homan is satisfied with an end to the surge. For Homan’s part, he stepped into a mess and has made it a success. But the question is whether it will be enough? The timing of Homan’s announcement is likely not a coincidental thing because today at midnight is the end of DHS funding. The issue for Democrats has of course been their ten (unrealistic) demands to dramatically “reform” ICE. However, the irony is that of DHS agencies...
Takeaway #2: ICE is actually the only one that wouldn’t be impacted if a funding deal isn’t approved today.
ICE and Border Patrol were funded through last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act...but these agencies would be: The U.S. Coast Guard, CISA, or the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Secret Service and FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In each of those agencies all but essential operations would be halted with employees furloughed. This would mean no more Coast Guard Patrols, proactive cybersecurity methods, 5% of TSA employees furloughed with the rest working without being paid on schedule, an end to Secret Service training programs, and most of FEMA’s employees sidelined and furloughed. That’s the actual impact if Democrats decide to follow through on their threats. The average boob Democrat voter might not know this, however the average boob Democrat congressman does. Will reality win the day over virtue signaling? Will Democrats risk the reality that ICE will still be as visible tomorrow as they are today, but with stories that would begin to emerge about how those other agencies aren’t able to operate as usual today? For example, I don’t think it’s a politically popular thing to be sticking it to the Coast Guard, the government’s Cyber Security wing, Secret Service and TSA agents because you’ve got a bug up your butt about basically unimpacted ICE. Today figures to be an interesting day that way. Maybe reality will win the day.
Takeaway #3: Bye, Bye PBI?
For generations, tens of millions coming and going from the Palm Beaches have been inclined to “fly PBI”. Now, there’s a good chance you’ll never fly on “Trump Force One”, however there has been a good chance you’ll soon be able to fly into and out of Trump International as opposed to PBI. On Tuesday, that plan hit a snag as the next step on the path towards making Palm Beach International Airport a thing of the past didn’t take place as the state Senate Rules committee didn’t consider the “Commercial Service Airports” bill as scheduled on Tuesday but they did reschedule for this upcoming Tuesday. It has previously received two unanimous votes of senate committees thus far, with two favorable committee votes with the House companion bill as well. Incidentally, the House bill has its next stop on the Special Order Calendar scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday, the 17th. The bill provides the state, as opposed to local jurisdictions, with the authority to name that state’s commercial airports. And should the bill pass with Governor DeSantis signing it into law, the new policy will take effect on July 1st of this year – the start of the state’s next fiscal year. And shortly thereafter we’d have the renaming of Palm Beach International Airport to President Donald J. Trump International Airport (or some similar incarnation). The renaming of airports for presidents is rather common thing as of course there’s the John F. Kennedy International Airport, or JFK, in New York. There’s the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. We also have the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. There’s the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids (a fun fact Ford is the only non-elected President to hold this distinction), there’s Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport, in Springfield, Illinois, there’s the airport Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas (that is forever emblazed on my brain – I've flown in and out of that airport on two separate occasions. In my experience it’s not possible to be anywhere in that airport, including the bathroom, without hearing the name Bill and Hillary Clinton at least every three minutes). There’s also the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas, and last but not least, the Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport in Dickinson, North Dakota. Predictably there are critics of the President, including on the county commission, who oppose the name change, but did you know that PBIA, wasn’t originally named after Palm Beach County but rather a person? The airport was founded commercially as Morrison Field after Grace Morrison who led the airport’s planning commission. It was in 1948 that the Palm Beach County Commission voted to rename the airport after the county it sits in. It’s safe to say that the Trump name is synonymous with the county. With the renaming of Southern Blvd. between the airport and Mar-a-Lago it may soon be something the president sees from the time he deplanes Airforce One until the time he arrives back in Washington, D.C.