On April 30th, Congress ended the 76-day partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), restoring fiscal year funding to every agency within the department, except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Border Patrol.
The historic cut to ICE and Border Patrol funding was the result of months of community mobilizing and advocacy following the shocking violence carried out by these agencies in Minneapolis and other cities. The bill also came after decades of demands by communities for Congress to stop funding these abusive agencies and instead invest in community needs.
The cuts to ICE and Border Patrol funding also came as majority leadership in Congress is again using the partisan reconciliation process to add to the bloated budgets of these agencies to spend without restrictions for the duration of the Trump administration. Last week, the Senate released text of legislation that would cost taxpayers nearly $72 billion, and give ICE $38 billion and CBP $26 billion to spend without guardrails over the next three years. If passed, this funding would layer on top of the massive budgets of ICE and CBP, which still have an estimated $103 billion from the reconciliation bill Congress passed last summer at the expense of healthcare, food security, and other critical services. Like the 2025 bill, these funds would add to our national deficit, engulfing the U.S. in approximately $92 billion more debt over the next decade.
As Congress prepares for this next funding fight, it is critical for members of Congress to hear from their constituents. That is why we explain below: 1) what happened with the most recent DHS shutdown, 2) what is the current status of ICE and CBP funding, and 3) what you need to know about this new $72 billion reconciliation package and how to raise your voice.
1. Congress Ended the DHS Shutdown Without New Funding for ICE or Border Patrol
After immigration agents murdered Rene Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis, Congress responded to widespread public outrage and refused to pass the FY 2026 funding bill for DHS. To be clear, most ICE and CBP officers did not feel the impact of the shutdown, as they continued to receive checks even during funding lapses and could lean on the windfall from last summer’s reconciliation bill. However, other DHS agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) struggled to pay their agents. Meanwhile, ICE began spending billions on warehouses for mass immigrant detention camps, even as the death toll in ICE prisons reached unprecedented levels. CBP also spent lavishly on wasteful border wall barriers and invasive surveillance programs.
During the shutdown, lawmakers offered proposals in the House and Senate to fund all agencies in DHS for Fiscal Year 2026 except for ICE, CBP, and the Office of the Secretary. Congress also attempted to negotiate reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol, but majority lawmakers continued and the White House rejected any meaningful reform proposals.
Eventually, Congress ended the shutdown by allocating zero annual funding for ICE and Border Patrol while funding other DHS agencies—a historic achievement given the civil and human rights violations endemic to these two agencies.
2. ICE and Border Patrol Still Have MORE MONEY THan they know what to do with
Despite receiving zero annual funding in this last bill, ICE and Border Patrol are swimming in money. Last summer, through a separate funding process known as reconciliation, Congress gave ICE $75 billion, which is more than seven times ICE’s annual budget and more than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. CBP received $65 billion, more than three times what the agency normally is allocated through the normal annual budget process. The Trump administration has set aside (or “apportioned”) $33 billion to ICE and $56 billion to CBP for detention expansion, warehouses, and a border wall. We do not know how much of this is actually spent, however, given the lack of transparency requirements for this massive blank check.
3. Congress Could Still Spend Billions More Tax Dollars to ICE and Border Patrol with a New Reconciliation Bill
In the end, the passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 bill was part of a “two-track” plan to end the DHS shutdown. This plan involves once again using the reconciliation process to direct tens of billions more taxpayer funds to ICE and CBP’s budgets. The White House has tasked Congress with passing a new bill before June 1 that would cost taxpayers nearly $72 billion and would likely fail to impose any guardrails on ICE and Border Patrol’s lawless conduct.
Communities and advocates are again mobilizing to stop Congress from writing another blank check for ICE and Border Patrol to continue to carry out violence with impunity. The stakes are incredibly high, with ICE threatening to expand immigrant prison camps to warehouses as deaths in detention reaching catastrophic levels. The Trump administration is again ratcheting up threats of mass raids with “Border Czar” Tom Homan recently telling DHS officials and surveillance industry leaders: “This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”
Congress must hold ICE and Border Patrol accountable, not further enrich them to terrorize our communities.
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