By Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security could be ensnared by a partial government shutdown if Congress does not fund the agency by the end of Friday. But nearly all DHS workers would remain on the job — even if many wouldn’t get paid until the lapse ends — and the public probably wouldn’t notice much of a change.

DHS is the last federal agency lacking funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, which runs through September 30. Since the record-long shutdown ended in mid-November, lawmakers have passed a series of spending bills for the rest of the government.

The most recent package, approved at the end of January, only funded DHS for two weeks to give Congress more time to negotiate reforms in the agency’s immigration enforcement operations — a demand by Senate Democrats after federal immigration agents fatally shot two US citizens in Minneapolis in January.

The White House made an offer Wednesday night, which Democrats are reviewing. But it’s unclear if they can hammer out a deal before DHS’ funding expires.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that another short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution, would be needed to keep critical parts of DHS operational. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hasn’t indicated how Democrats will proceed.

President Donald Trump is no stranger to government shutdowns. He also presided over one in his first term, which lasted 35 days and had been the longest on record until last year’s 43-day impasse.

Here’s what we know about a partial government shutdown affecting DHS:

What is the debate around funding DHS?

The shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by DHS immigration agents during protests in Minneapolis last month sparked widespread public outcry and prompted Senate Democrats to demand reforms in exchange for their support of a package to fund other federal departments.

The Democrats have said they want to restrict roving patrols, tighten parameters around warrants for searches and arrests, toughen use-of-force policies and require US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to wear body cameras and remove their masks. Republicans have resisted nearly all of those changes, and some have pushed for concessions from Democrats, like cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities.

What would a shutdown mean for ICE and CBP?

Democrats may not have much power to actually restrict ICE and US Customs and Border Protection activities in the event of a shutdown. Even in a shutdown, ICE would still continue to operate its main functions, multiple congressional aides have contended.

Overall, more than 90% of DHS’ 272,000 employees would continue working during a lapse, according to the agency’s September shutdown plan covering the first five days of an impasse. More tha

Por Andrew Kaczynski y Em Steck, CNN

En el cumpleaños número 62 de Jeffrey Epstein, en 2015, Kathy Ruemmler, ex asesora de la Casa Blanca durante el Gobierno de Obama, le envió un correo electrónico para desearle lo mejor, en el que escribió: “Espero que disfrutes el día con tu único y verdadero amor. :-)”.

El delincuente sexual multimillonario respondió con una nota obscena y una aparente referencia a la masturbación: “Dicen que los hombres suelen darle un nombre a sus penes”, escribió Epstein en un correo electrónico lleno de errores tipográficos, ya que “sería inapropiado hacer el amor con un completo desconocido”.

Ese intercambio recién publicado aporta nuevos detalles sobre la relación entre Epstein y Ruemmler, una de las abogadas mejor pagadas del país. Ruemmler ha declarado que conoció a Epstein a través de su trabajo como abogada y que ambos eran “amigos en ese contexto profesional”.

Entre los cientos de intercambios de correos electrónicos revisados ​​por CNN en los que discuten las batallas legales y los problemas de reputación de Epstein, hay otras comunicaciones más personales entre ambos, incluidos planes para un viaje propuesto a la isla de Epstein y regalos que él le había dado.

En algunos de sus mensajes de ida y vuelta, Ruemmler habló de asuntos personales de su vida, expresó gratitud por su “amistad” y concluyó sus mensajes con “xo” y “xoxo” (besos y abrazos).

Después de recibir la atrevida respuesta de Epstein a sus buenos deseos de cumpleaños, Ruemmler respondió: “Es difícil creer que todavía haya duda sobre si los hombres son [el] género inferior”.

Muchos de los mensajes en los archivos recién publicados contienen errores tipográficos y ortográficos. No está claro si algunos de ellos ocurrieron mientras el Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU. preparaba los millones de páginas de documentos para su publicación el mes pasado.

Ruemmler, quien ahora es el directora jurídica de Goldman Sachs, ha enfrentado la divulgación de numerosos documentos en las últimas semanas que examinan su relación con el financiero caído en desgracia.

En una declaración a CNN en diciembre, ella declaró: “Conocí a Jeffrey Epstein profesionalmente cuando dirigía el grupo de defensa de delitos de cuello blanco en Latham & Watkins, y él era una fuente de referencias comerciales. No lo representé ni recibí compensación de su parte. Fui una de los abogados a los que Epstein contactó informalmente para pedirle consejo”.

Ruemmler ha dicho que lamenta haber conocido a Epstein y que no tenía “ningún conocimiento de ninguna actividad ilegal nueva o en curso por parte de él”.

Tras la publicación más reciente de los archivos de Epstein, Ruemmler y su equipo de comunicaciones remitieron las preguntas de CNN sobre su intercambio de cumpleaños con Epstein a su abogado, Tom Clare.

“El hecho es que la Sra. Ruemmler no hace ninguna declaración sobre el pene de Epstein”, declaró Clare a CNN en un correo electrónico. “No lo menciona. No bromea al respecto. No bromea con Epstein al respecto. No accede a los comentarios no solicitados e innecesarios de Epstein sobre los hombres y sus penes. Nada. Su participación en todo el intercambio se limitó a (1) desearle a Epstein un feliz cumpleaños; (2) ridiculizar a Epstein por el comentario; y (3) abandonar el intercambio”.

CNN

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By Charlotte Reck, CNN

(CNN) — Switzerland is to hold a landmark vote on a right-wing party’s proposal to restrict the nation’s population to 10 million, amid divisions over immigration.

The proposal, put forward by the country’s largest political grouping the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), would require the government to act before the population – currently at 9.1 million – rises to the proposed 10 million upper limit.

If the vote, due to be held on June 14, is passed, the government would have to refuse entry to newcomers including asylum seekers and the families of foreign residents once the population reaches 9.5 million.

If the population hits 10 million, the government would be forced to end its free-movement agreement with the European Union (EU), which is Switzerland’s largest trading partner.

While Switzerland is not an EU member, the nation is integrated through over 120 bilateral agreements, granting it access to the EU single market and the free movement of people and trade in goods.

The SVP, which has finished first in every election since 1999, argues that Switzerland is having a “population explosion” that is putting pressure on public services, straining infrastructure and inflating rents.

The party is alone in its support for the population limit among members of the executive Federal Council – a seven-seat coalition which makes decisions by majority and voted to oppose the initiative.

But a poll conducted last year by the Swiss-based polling firm Leewas indicates the proposal has wide support.

Switzerland’s referendum system allows for proposals to be put to a public vote if they gather at least 100,000 signatures from eligible voters within 18 months.

In a post on its X account, the SVP urged the Swiss electorate to vote in favor of the motion by sharing a seemingly AI-generated image of wealthy people toasting champagne on a throne above a crowd of disgruntled workers. The caption read: “A small economic elite profits from the excessive immigration – the majority of the Swiss population suffers.”

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By Jennifer Agiesta, CNN

(CNN) — Gallup, one of the country’s most well-known polling firms, announced Wednesday that it will no longer track presidential approval or favorability of political figures. The move ends the longest-running continuous effort to track US opinion of the nation’s president, dating back to the tenure of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the late 1930s.

The company attributes the change to a shift toward research on “issues and conditions that shape people’s lives.” Gallup has some of the longest trend data in polling on public opinion about prominent issues and the nation’s mood, which it plans to continue, and says that it will no longer “publish assessments of individual political figures.”

The end of presidential approval tracking at Gallup is the latest in a long line of shifts that have remade the landscape of polling over the last few decades.

Some major public pollsters, including Gallup, stepped back from conducting polling on which candidate voters prefer, sometimes referred to as horserace polling. Changes in the ways people communicate made it harder, more time-consuming and more expensive to conduct polling by telephone, long the gold-standard of survey methodology and the methodology Gallup has used for its presidential approval tracking. That’s led to major shifts in how public pollsters do their work.

And long-running, prominent public polling partnerships – such as CNN’s former partnership with Gallup and USA Today, the partnership between CBS News and the New York Times, and between NBC News and the Wall Street Journal – have ended or changed.

The standard job approval question used by Gallup since the presidency of Harry S. Truman – “do you approve or disapprove of the way (name) is handling his job as president” – has been adopted and carried forward by hundreds of researchers since. CNN’s most recent tracking of polls on President Donald Trump’s approval rating includes 134 high-quality polls on that metric conducted by someone other than Gallup since the start of his second term in office.

Trump’s current average approval rating in the CNN Poll of Polls stands at 39% approve to 59% disapprove, similar to Gallup’s final measure in December 2025, which found 36% of Americans approving of Trump with 59% disapproving.

CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy contributed to this report.

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