As the clock wound toward a shutdown of the federal government on Friday night, a group of young immigrants who have found themselves at the heart of the debate gathered on the front of lawn of the US Capitol, its dome illuminated in the background.

“For all those Dreamers out there,” said Joe Kennedy III, a Democratic representative from Massachusetts, addressing nearly the 700,000 undocumented migrants brought to the US as children, “our message for each and every one of you: there are those in our government that see you, that hear you, that believe and know that this country belongs to you.”

Lawmakers have worked for months to negotiate a deal that would extend to these young migrants the legal protections of an Obama-era program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or Daca.

Now, however, the program is at the center of the political battle that has produced a federal government shutdown for the first time since 2013.

In September, Trump rescinded Daca and gave Congress until March to find a legislative solution.

Democrats have insisted the only way to ensure the issue is resolved on time is to tie it to a must-pass spending bill. Republicans have argued that immigration should proceed separately.

Any hope of an agreement was complicated on Saturday, when the White House said it would not negotiate immigration policy with Congress until the shutdown ends.

Quick Guide All you need to know about a US government shutdown Show What is a government shutdown? When the US Congress fails to pass appropriate funding for government operations and agencies, a shutdown is triggered. Most government services are frozen, barring those that are deemed “essential”, such as the work of the Department of Homeland Security and FBI. During this shutdown, around 25% of the government workforce is placed on unpaid furlough and told not to work. Workers deemed essential, such as active duty military personnel, are not furloughed. Why might the government shut down? The president and members of Congress are at an impasse over what should be included in a spending bill to keep the government open. How common is a shutdown? There have been more than a dozen government shutdowns in the US since 1981, although ranging in duration. The longest occurred under Bill Clinton, lasting a total of 21 days from December 1995 to January 1996, when the then House speaker, Newt Gingrich, demanded sharp cuts to government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and welfare.

This shutdown is on course to be the longest in US history. What would be the cost of a shutdown? A government shutdown would cost the US roughly $6.5bn a week, according to a report by S&P Global analysts. “A disruption in government spending means no government paychecks to spend; lost business and revenue to private contractors; lost sales at retail shops, particularly those that circle now-closed national parks; and less tax revenue for Uncle Sam,” the report stated. “That means less economic activity and fewer jobs.” Hundreds of thousands of people are not receiving regular paychecks in this shutdown. In previous shutdowns, furloughed employees have been paid retrospectively – but those payments have often been delayed. Sabrina Siddiqui Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images North America

The president challenged lawmakers to craft a “bill of love” that also included funding for a border wall along the southern border with Mexico. He promised to sign whatever Congress brought to him.

But when a deal arrived, immigration hardliners whispered in his ear and defeated the proposal.

Activists and Dreamers rallied on the east lawn of the US Capitol on Friday night, as the government tried to avert a shutdown before the midnight deadline. Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images

On Friday, as Congress barrelled toward a shutdown, the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, made a final pitch that included funding for a border wall. It was not enough and the Senate failed to pass a measure that would fund the federal government.

Lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Saturday morning, in hopes of brokering a swift end to the shutdown. A shuttering of the federal government stretching into days rather than hours would be undoubtedly perilous for lawmakers in both political parties.

Quick Guide What is Daca and who are the Dreamers? Show Who are the Dreamers? Dreamers are young immigrants who would qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (Daca) program, enacted under Barack Obama in 2012. Most people in the program entered the US as children and have lived in the US for years “undocumented”. Daca gave them temporary protection from deportation and work permits. Daca was only available to people younger than 31 on 15 June 2012, who arrived in the US before turning 16 and lived there continuously since June 2007. Most Dreamers are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and the largest numbers live in California, Texas, Florida and New York. Donald Trump cancelled the program in September but has also said he wants Congress to develop a program to “help” the population. What will happen to the Dreamers? Under the Trump administration, new applications under Daca will no longer be accepted. For those currently in the program, their legal status and other Daca-related permits (such as to work and attend college) will begin expiring in March 2018 – unless Congress passes legislation allowing a new channel for temporary or permanent legal immigration status – and Dreamers will all lose their status by March 2020.

Technically, as their statuses lapse they could be deported and sent back to countries many have no familiarity with. It is still unclear whether this would happen. Fear had been rising in the run-up to last week’s announcement. Those with work permits expiring between 5 September 2017 and 5 March 2018 will be allowed to apply for renewal by 5 October. What does the recent ruling by Judge William Alsup mean? In his ruling, Alsup ordered the Trump administration to restart the program, allowing Daca recipients who already qualify for the program to submit applications for renewal. However, he said the federal government did not have to process new applications from people who had not previously received protection under the program. When the Trump administration ended the Daca program, it allowed Daca recipients whose legal status expired on or before 5 March to renew their legal status. Roughly 22,000 recipients failed to successfully renew their legal status for various reasons. Legal experts and immigration advocates are advising Daca recipients not to file for renewal until the administration provides more information about how it intends to comply with the ruling. “These next days and weeks are going to create a lot of confusion on the legal front,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, which has filed a separate lawsuit against the Trump administration’s termination of Daca. Joanna Walters

Democrats facing re-election in conservative states that Trump won in 2016 fear that a government shutdown over a group of undocumented migrants, no matter how sympathetic their plight, may have political consequences for their campaigns in the midterms this year.

On Friday, five red-state Senate Democrats joined Republicans to support a bill to keep the government open.

Democrats also face pressure from their progressive flank to block any funding measure that does not include a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers.

Hey, Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin. Mexico isn’t a state. Why are you representing it? Kevin Bryant, South Carolina lieutenant governor

Yet Republicans, who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, could face their own repercussions.

This is the first government shutdown to occur under a unified government. Polling suggests voters will hold them responsible.

Furthermore, the spending bill that failed in the Senate, which would only have funded the government through mid-February, included a six-year authorization of a popular health insurance program (Chip), which provides healthcare coverage to 9 million children but which has been allowed to lapse.



A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Friday found that 48% of Americans would blame Trump and the Republicans in the event of a shutdown; 28% said the Democrats would be responsible and 18% said both parties would be equally at fault.



Trump and Republicans hope to frame the shutdown as a choice by Democrats to protect “illegal immigrants” at the expense of Americans. A White House statement issued just before midnight said “this is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators”.

“Hey, Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin,” South Carolina’s Republican lieutenant governor, Kevin Bryant, tweeted at the Senate minority leader and his No 2 on Saturday morning, “Mexico isn’t a state. Why are you representing it?”

In a flurry of morning tweets on Saturday, Trump, who was forced to postpone plans to celebrate his first anniversary at his Mar-a-Lago resort, accused Democrats of holding members of the military “hostage” in an effort to create a system of “unchecked illegal immigration”.

He wrote: “Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!”

The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, met with Trump on Friday in an attempt to broker a deal. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

But it was Trump who balked at a deal he and Schumer devised over lunch at the White House on Friday, that would have kept the government open and struck a compromise on immigration.

In a scathing floor speech on Friday night, Schumer revealed that he offered a concession on funding for the border wall, a line Democrats have said they would not cross in exchange for protections for Dreamers.

Even that was not enough to persuade the irascible president.

Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly, who has emerged during the negotiations as an unexpected hardliner on immigration, called Schumer after the meeting and said the Democrats’ offer lacked strong enough controls on immigration.

Schumer said this was reflective of Trump’s unpredictable position on any immigration compromise. Last week, the president exacerbated the issue when, during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House, he questioned why the US had to accept immigrants from “shithole” countries in Africa rather than from places like Norway.

“What has transpired since that meeting in the Oval Office is indicative of the entire tumultuous and chaotic process Republicans have engaged in the negotiations thus far,” Schumer said.

“Even though President Trump seemed to like an outline of a deal in the room, he did not press his party in Congress to accept it.”