The Brief

John Lauretig remembers the filthy bathrooms, the overflowing trash cans and the community of people who rallied to clean up Joshua Tree National Park the last time the U.S. government shut down.

For more than a month from December 2018 through January 2019, thousands of National Park Service employees were furloughed nationwide — but the Trump administration kept many national parks open.

Unsupervised, visitors drove through wilderness and historic sites, camped where they weren’t supposed to, and vandalized plants and buildings at parks across California. The trash — and the feces — piled up. In the days after the shutdown ended, park staff found at least 1,665 clumps of toilet paper littering Death Valley alone, where an estimated half-ton of human waste had been left outside the restrooms.

“It was insane to leave the gates open and tell the staff not to show up in the park — for our public lands, and all of our special places in this country, to be unprotected,” said Lauretig, a retired law enforcement park ranger and president of the Friends of Joshua Tree nonprofit.

Now, facing the prospect of another imminent shutdown, conservation groups and retired park service employees including Lauretig are calling to keep the gates locked at national parks and historic landmarks.

They’re among many Californians bracing for the shutdown, which is expected to begin Wednesday unless Democrats and Republicans can make a deal by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

As of now, the parties appear far apart, although President Donald Trump and congressional leaders are expected to meet today. Democratic leaders in Congress are demanding that Republicans reverse Medicaid cuts made in Trump’s signature tax and spending bill earlier this year and extend Biden-era subsidies used by a majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees.

In response, the Trump administration has floated firing federal workers en masse if the shutdown occurs.

“Democrats are hoping to use the one bit of leverage that they have left in Washington at this time to make it clear what they stand for,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “And the question is: Can they hold out against the political and policy pain that Donald Trump is hoping to impose by threatening more layoffs of government employees?”

The federal government shut down three times during the Obama and Trump presidencies. Each one presents a hardship for government employees, who are either furloughed or obliged to work without pay.

About 150,000 federal employees work in California, not counting the military service members who also will go without pay during a shutdown.

In the past when facing possible federal shutdowns, the state had a contingency plan to try to avoid disruptions in certain services. In late 2023, it planned to pay one month’s worth of federal food assistance early to advance aid to families in the event of a shutdown.

But this year there’s no such commitment yet from the Department of Finance, as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration weighs the possibility of a lengthy shutdown.

“There isn’t an open-ended long-term line of credit where the state’s general fund can be assumed to make up for any federal fund shortfall,” finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer said.

Here’s a look at what Californians can expect to happen if a shutdown occurs this week.

Social Security and health care

Most Californians shouldn’t worry about a federal shutdown impacting their Social Security benefits or their health care access in the near term.

About 6.5 million Californians receive benefits through the Social Security Administration and those checks are expected to continue going out during a shutdown.

But, customer service could suffer depending on how many employees are told to stay home, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare.

That includes “benefit verifications, earnings record corrections and updates, overpayments processing, and replacing Medicare cards. The level of disruption will depend on how many (Social Security Administration) employees the Trump administration deems ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ during the shutdown,” Max Richtman, the organization’s president, said in a written statement.

Medicaid and Medicare, which pay for health care for low-income individuals, people with disabilities and seniors, are mandatory programs that are exempt from the annual appropriations process.

Jan Emerson-Shea, spokesperson for the California Hospital Association, said “essential services” like insurance payments to hospitals and doctors will continue.

Some discretionary programs, however, like food stamps and benefits for women, infants and children may be impacted by a shutdown.

One group that could be disproportionately affected by even a brief federal shutdown are native and indigenous populations. Many of the 723,000 American Indians living in California get health care at clinics that are funded through federal grants. The clinics are often small and may have very little reserves to weather a funding pause, said Nanette Star, policy director for the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health.

“Even a short shutdown can mean staff furloughs, service cuts, patient service delays,” Star said.

Airports and travel

You’ll be able to fly and take rides during a government shutdown, but you might experience more delays.

That’s because air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents are among the government employees who would be expected to show up for work without getting paid. The longer a shutdown drags out, the more likely it is that the system will strain and workers will call in sick.

The U.S. Travel Association, which advocates for the industry, released a statement last week that included a survey showing many people would cancel or postpone travel during a shutdown, which it argued would ripple through the economy.

“A shutdown is a wholly preventable blow to America’s travel economy—costing $1 billion every week—and affecting millions of travelers and businesses while placing unnecessary strain on an already overextended federal travel workforce,” said Geoff Freeman, the organization’s president.

Wildfires and disasters

A federal shutdown won’t ground firefighters, but could slow the money that pays for future disaster prep.

Nick Schuler, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said the agency does not expect a shutdown to affect its “ability to respond to and aggressively attack fires” and will continue to operate as normal. In past shutdowns, he said, U.S. Forest Service firefighters have still been available for emergency response and pointed to California’s “robust Master Mutual Aid System,” which ensures resources respond regardless of jurisdiction.

Delta Fire, Sept. 5, 2018.

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U.S. Forest Service

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Still, he cautioned that what keeps engines running today might not pay for the prevention work of tomorrow: “Any disruption to grant funding that supports fire prevention and wildfire resiliency could have negative impacts,” he said.

Newsom’s office said the Federal Emergency Management Agency would keep “core life-saving operations” going during a shutdown but that payments to states would stall and recovery efforts would be put on hold. That means Californians could see first responders in action but face delays in reimbursement or recovery projects.

Other science agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey could face interruptions that affect California’s disaster readiness, the governor’s spokesperson said.

National parks

National parks supporters are worried that the Trump administration again would send home workers but leave open the gates.

That’s “a recipe for even more disaster,” said Kate Groetzinger, communications manager at the Center for Western Priorities, an environmental advocacy group. “It will be worse this time than it was last time around, simply because the parks are already struggling.”

She was referring to federal staffing cuts the Trump administration carried out earlier this year. The National Parks Conservation Association estimates that the National Park Service has lost 24% of its permanent staff since Trump’s second term began, and left thousands of seasonal positions unfilled.

If a shutdown does occur, the association projects daily losses of $1 million in fee revenue for the parks, and $77 million for the gateway communities that surround them.

Morale among National Park workers is bad already — and a shutdown would make it worse, said Bernadette Johnson, a former superintendent of Manzanar National Historic Site, where during World War II the U.S. Government incarcerated thousands of Japanese Americans.

“The attack has just been so furious. And I think that federal employees are being demonized, as these lazy bureaucrats that we are not … It breaks my heart to watch,” Johnson said. “The people left behind are holding all of that work now, because the work didn't go away.”

A spokesperson for the The National Park Service said the agency is reviewing and updating plans for a lapse in funding.

However a shutdown may play out, Lauretig over at Joshua Tree said he’s ready.

“I still have a loft (full) of toilet paper, trash bags, bleach, cleaning materials, gloves waiting for the next event — which, you know, could be imminent.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

San Clemente’s City Council has approved a proposal to give federal immigration officials broad oversight of the city’s coastline, despite overwhelming public opposition.

Under the agreement, Customs and Border Patrol will be able to install cameras on a hilltop to keep an eye on the city’s waters for incoming panga boats. If people from the panga boats head into the city, federal agents can surveil them in residential neighborhoods. City officials will not have access to the surveillance system or how it’s being used.

The agreement — approved on a 3-1 vote, with one council member abstaining — comes even as city officials have acknowledged there hasn’t been a rise in panga boat landings within city limits.

As next steps, the city manager will enter into a lease with Customs and Border Patrol giving them access to the land to install the camera.

Details of the agreement 

City leaders directed the city manager to enter into a lease agreement with Customs and Border Patrol for a five-year term, with three five-year renewal options. Federal immigration agents will also pay a one-time fee of $10 to the city and cover electricity costs.

Public opposition

San Clemente residents mostly spoke out against entering into the lease, with many citing privacy concerns.

“ The federal government is demanding a black box operation on our soil. They're asking for a platform to monitor our coastline with zero local oversight,” resident Robin Seymour said at the council meeting.

Another resident, Chelsea Sanchez, said she’s concerned as the daughter of immigrant parents.

“Given that racial profiling is a common tactic of these agencies, how can you guarantee that someone who looks like me won't be swept up in something like this?” she said.

Mark Enmeier, the sole voice of dissent on the dais, also raised concerns with the agreement’s lack of oversight in how the surveillance data will be used.

In the city report, officials said CBP “has stated the system would be configured to avoid scanning residential areas that fall into the scan viewshed.” However, city officials said Tuesday night that the agency “can't commit contractually to not surveilling anything inside the city limits of San Clemente or inside the residential area.”

Other cities with agreements with federal immigration 

The city of Glendale ended a 20-year contract with Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allowed the agency to use its jails after coming under pressure when immigration enforcement ramped up in Southern California last summer.

Customs and Border Patrol also has an agreement with San Diego County that gives agents access to personal data in a San Diego Association of Governments database.

Verizon’s $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications is a done deal after the agreement closed Tuesday, kicking in a slew of digital equity requirements and infrastructure investments for California.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s recent approval included a slew of digital equity requirements, such as expanding affordable internet and new fiber optic projects.

The merger comes as the federal government pulled back $2.75 billion in funding by slashing the Digital Equity Act.

CPUC Commissioner John Reynolds said requirements from the deal will benefit Californians and align with the state’s mission to expand affordable connectivity.

“California isn’t just approving a merger, we’re securing real commitments that will connect communities, lower costs for families who need it most, and strengthen workforce and supplier diversity protections,” Reynolds said in a statement.

Verizon CEO Dan Schulman, in a statement, celebrated the approval.

“Our greatly expanded footprint will enable us to provide more value to more households and businesses in more regions, driving our growth and benefitting our customers and our shareholders,” Schulman said.

What is required of Verizon in this deal? 

The closed merger means Verizon must expand affordable voice and broadband plans. That includes providing free broadband service to qualifying low-income families for at least 10 years. And for at least the next five years, Verizon can’t raise rates on its affordable plans.

The state also reported that Verizon must invest in 75,000 new fiber locations and build 25 new wireless towers that will reach rural areas.

The decision also adopts multiple settlement agreements that include additional commitments related to affordability, service quality, labor protections, infrastructure deployment and $500 million in spending with small businesses.

Verizon must fulfill its commitments or face fines and other penalties from the California Public Utilities Commission, according to the agreement.

Are there concerns? 

Some concerns remain about what these mergers could mean for customers, according to Lindsey Skolnik, manager at the California Alliance for Digital Equity.

“Recognizing that declining competition in the marketplace ultimately leads to increased concentration of power over broadband pricing and service offerings, this potential outcome is deeply worrisome, especially in the midst of California's affordability crisis,” Skolnik said in a statement.

Much of California’s broadband prices are driven by the Big 5 providers that include Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Cox and Verizon-Frontier. They service around 97% of the state’s 10.7 million broadband subscribers, Skolnick said.

In the coming years, the Big 5 could shrink to the Big 4 if the merger between Charter Communications and Cox Communications closes. Charter announced in May 2025 that it had offered to acquire Cox for around $34.5 billion, consolidating two of the largest cable companies in the country.

No details yet on when the agreement may close.

Just 10 years ago, the annual budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was less than $6 billion — notably smaller than other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. But ICE's budget has skyrocketed during President Trump's second term, becoming the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency, with $85 billion now at its disposal.

The windfall is thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted last July. After hovering around the $10 billion mark for years, ICE's budget suddenly benefited from a meteoric spike.

"With this new bill and other appropriations, it's larger than the annual budget of all other federal law enforcement agencies combined," said Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior director of the justice program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan policy institute.

ICE is now the lead agency in President's Trump immigration crackdown, sending thousands of agents into U.S. communities. As its funding and profile has grown as part of those efforts, ICE has come under increasing criticism for its officers' actions, from masked agents randomly stopping, questioning, and detaining people and thrusting them into unmarked vehicles to the recent killing of Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis.

A cycle of more migrants, more money and a larger ICE mission

ICE's sudden growth spurt follows roughly two decades of relatively modest funding since 2003, when the agency was created by merging the U.S. Customs Service with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In 2015, for instance, Congress approved a budget of around $5.96 billion, which was nearly $1 billion less than then-President Barack Obama had requested.

In 2019, during the first Trump administration, border control officer's encounters with migrants attempting authorized entry to the U.S. spiked. Those numbers then plummeted as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted invocation of the Title 42 public health law, allowing CBP to expel migrants more quickly, with restricted pathways to asylum.

Encounters rose sharply under former President Joe Biden and soared above 3.2 million in 2023, when Biden lifted Title 42. By late 2024, fewer migrants were arriving at the border, due to U.S. asylum limits and Mexico bolstering enforcement.

When Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he sought to empower immigration authorities to quickly remove migrants and announced a crackdown led by ICE.

Under the 2025 law, ICE has a $75 billion supplement that it can take as long as four years to spend, along with its base budget of around $10 billion. If the agency spends that money at a steady pace and current funding levels continue, it would have nearly $29 billion on hand each year. That essentially triples ICE's total budget from recent years.

To give that large number a sense of scale, consider that the Trump administration's 2026 appropriations request for the entire Justice Department, including the FBI, stands at a little over $35 billion.

The Trump administration has set lofty goals for ICE, aiming to deport 1 million people each year. And the One Big Beautiful Bill Act also allocates $45 billion for ICE to expand its immigration detention system — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last June that the agency will be able to hold up to 100,000 people in custody daily. By comparison, the federal Bureau of Prisons currently holds over 153,000 inmates.

As of Nov. 30, 65,735 people were held in immigration detention, according to the data tracking project Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

With those metrics in mind, ICE went on a hiring spree in 2025, fueled by its bigger budget. In just one year, the agency says, it "more than doubled our officers and agents from 10,000 to 22,000." (The Office of Personnel Management, which tracks federal workforce statistics, is only updated through Nov. 30 and does not reflect any hiring made by the DHS in the last quarter of the year.)

According to the DHS, ICE received 220,000 applications in 2025, thanks in part to a generous incentive package with perks like a signing bonus of up to $50,000, disbursed over the course of a five-year commitment, and up to $60,000 in student loan repayment.

ICE is still on that hiring spree, looking to hire deportation officers in at least 25 cities around the U.S., according to a job listing on the USA Jobs website that will remain active through the end of September. The starting salary for an ICE deportation officer in the Enforcement and Removal Operations division, or ERO, ranges from $51,632 up to $84,277.

The dramatic growth came in the same year that the Trump administration sharply reduced the number of federal workers, firing thousands of employees and inviting many more to resign.

What else will the new funds be spent on? 

With base level funding for DHS and ICE due to expire at the end of January, Democrats in Congress are calling for changes to how ICE operates. It comes after a year in which deaths of people in ICE custody spiked to the highest levels in decades, with ICE reporting seven deaths in December, and three more in 2026, as of Jan. 16.

ICE's increased budget makes sense to Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the right-wing Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group advocating for lower levels of immigration. He says the funding boost " is directly commensurate with the size of the task the agency is addressing."

"ICE exists to find and remove people who are in the country illegally," Mehlman said, referring to a category that grew when the Trump administration stripped legal status from 1.6 million immigrants in 2025.

The focus of the new spending reflects President Trump's emphasis on arrests and removals, said Margy O'Herron, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center's liberty and national security program who worked at the DOJ in the Biden administration.

O'Herron said she agrees with the idea that, for years, a reasonable case could be made that DHS agencies such as ICE and CBP needed more money. But other parts of the immigration system aren't getting as much help, she said.

"All of the money is going to enforcement to arrest, to detain and to deport," she said. "It's not going to things like immigration hearings or immigration judges, to conduct additional review of whether or not somebody should be in the country. And that is a real problem for the system."
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