Congress returns from recess this week and is preparing for major legislative fights revolving around funding levels for abusive immigration enforcement agencies. Since late January 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has faced a prolonged shutdown as lawmakers have refused to send more funds to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Lawmakers acted in response to the growing outrage across the United States, in the wake of ICE and CBP’s fatal shootings of U.S. citizen protesters. The momentum grew for robust reforms to restrict these agencies from committing further violence, with increased calls for reclaiming the dozens of billions they have used to wage their militarized crackdowns on U.S. communities. Now instead of heeding these warnings, Senate and House Majority leaders are preparing to send tens of billions more ICE and CBP’s way.
How did we get here? A historic push-back against ICE and CBP’s violence
In late March, the Senate passed a landmark bill that, for the first time in DHS history, cut annual funds for ICE and for CBP’s Border Patrol. That historic measure is a testament to decades of organizing from communities demanding cuts to these agencies’ budgets. It passed without objection from either party in an effort to re-open DHS. Although President Trump signaled he would sign this bill, the House refused to pass it. This prompted outrage across the nation, where airport travelers have faced significant delays as funding for DHS’ non-immigration agencies lapsed. Instead, the House passed a very different measure – a 60-day stopgap bill with full funding for ICE and CBP. The Senate did not take up this bill, further spiraling prospects for an end to the DHS shutdown.
A new threat arises: exploiting the reconciliation budget track (again) to enrich ICE and CBP
In response to increased pressure to end the DHS shutdown, on April 1st, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a “two-track” plan; first, the House would pass the Senate’s version of DHS FY26 funding that cuts ICE and Border Patrol funding, and second, Republicans would fulfill the White House demands by using the reconciliation process again (following last summer’s astronomic reconciliation bill) to send tens of billions more to these agencies for the remainder of Trump’s term.
There is no question that neither ICE nor CBP need more federal taxpayer dollars. Nevertheless, President Trump is calling for Congress to bypass the normal annual funding process that requires bipartisan agreement and secure tens of billions more for ICE and CBP once again.
More money, more violence at the hands of ICE and CBP
The request for more funding using the reconciliation process opens the door to new horrors for communities still suffering from the windfall of funds shelled out to immigration enforcement agencies last summer. The violence unleashed by ICE and Border Patrol in Minneapolis, Chicago and cities across the country, is a direct result of the blank check from last year’s bill – $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for CBP. Any more funding for these agencies would layer on top of the hundreds of billions provided last summer for immigrant prisons, militarized immigration policing, and surveillance programs at the expense of healthcare, food security and other critical services. The administration has already allocated (or “apportioned”) $33 billion to ICE and $56 billion to CBP, but there is no way to track how the agencies are actually spending the blank check. As the administration continues to extract more public funds to expand detention to warehouses, 15 people have already died this year in ICE detention. This year is shaping up to be even worse than 2025, which was the deadliest year in decades, with at least 32 deaths occurring in ICE detention.
As Congress opens up a new battle front, communities are mobilizing to urge their elected leaders to oppose any more funding for Trump’s abusive enforcement machine. The slogan “not another dollar for ICE and Border Patrol” has spread to communities fighting against immigrant detention warehouses in their towns, as well as fighting to keep their health care, food assistance programs, child care tax credits, and other programs under threat because of government spending spent elsewhere – largely for war and immigrant prison camps.
ICE and CBP need accountability, not more blank checks
The baseline demands for Congress from communities facing the onslaught of violence remains the same – invest in critical needs, not ICE and CBP abuses. This requires lawmakers to stand strong against sending tens of billions more to the Trump administration’s lawless crackdown, and begin meaningful steps to stop the violence and rescind ICE and CBP’s war chest. Any annual funding deal should also include measures to restrict funding the expansion of the deadly ICE detention apparatus to warehouses across the country. At a minimum, any proposal should carry over existing transparency and accountability measures adopted over the years in annual funding bills, ensure these provisions apply to OBBBA funds, and strip the authority of DHS to shift any more away from other departments to ICE and Border Patrol.