The Senate passed a $70 billion funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection early Friday morning, and Democrats have nothing to show for the months they spent trying to stop it.
Just before 5 a.m. Friday, senators approved the legislation by a 52-47 vote after an all-night amendment session that stretched more than 18 hours. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the lone Republican to vote against final passage. The measure now heads to the House.
Democrats spent months blocking long-term funding for ICE and Border Patrol, helping produce the longest Homeland Security funding lapse in recent memory. Republicans turned to the reconciliation process, which allowed them to move the bill with a simple majority rather than the normal 60-vote threshold. Democrats got nothing for it.
Throughout the fight, Democrats pushed for judicial warrants in immigration-related arrests, restrictions on masked federal agents, and limits on certain enforcement operations. None of it made it into the final bill.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) said Republicans did not have to accept any of the Democrats’ conditions.
“Democrats side with illegals over American citizens every chance they get. But thanks to reconciliation, we didn’t need their votes or have to accept their radical demands that would have tied the hands of federal law enforcement.”
Banks added:
“Now ICE and CBP have the funding they need to keep the border secure and continue mass deportations through the end of President Trump’s term.”
During Thursday’s all-night amendment process, Democrats also pushed measures targeting Trump’s proposed settlement fund and the White House ballroom project, using the bill to force Republicans onto the record on politically uncomfortable votes. Those efforts failed, too.
Read More: Finally! Senate Passes $70B ICE/CBP Border Bill
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the bill a giveaway to Trump, saying Republicans chose “more money for Donald Trump, more power for Donald Trump, and nothing to lower costs for working families.” He accused Republicans of pumping “another $70 billion into Trump’s personal police force.”
Republicans pushed back, saying Democrats spent months holding ICE and Border Patrol funding hostage to force policy changes that could not pass on their own. Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey said Democratic negotiators walked away from potential compromises because their real goal was limiting immigration enforcement authority.
“Because when there were situations where the Republicans were willing to concede or to give them some of the things they wanted, they rejected that in favor of just shutting down the agency.”
Fahey was especially critical of proposals requiring judicial warrants for ICE arrests.
“As probably most people know, you can’t get a judicial warrant from these ICE arrests. They’re issued out of the Executive Branch. So it didn’t even mechanically make any sense.”
Democrats spent months fighting to starve the agencies. They got every vote they wanted and changed nothing. ICE and Border Patrol are funded.
Editor’s Note: Democrats are fanning the flames and raising the rhetoric by comparing ICE to the Gestapo, fascists, and secret police.
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