Senate funds immigration enforcement

The Senate adopted a budget plan early Thursday to steer roughly $70 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and move toward reopening the Department of Homeland Security. (rollcall.com) Republicans first cleared the motion to proceed on April 21 by a 52-46 party-line vote, then used the budget process to set up a later reconciliation bill that can pass with a simple majority instead of 60 votes. (rollcall.com) The draft resolution tells the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee to produce legislation by May 15, with the spending designed to sustain the agencies for about 3.5 years, through the rest of President Donald Trump’s term. (rollcall.com) This fight grew out of the Homeland Security funding lapse that began on February 14, after a continuing resolution expired without a full fiscal 2026 appropriations law in place. (congress.gov) The Senate already passed a separate bill on March 27 to fund most of the department, but it left out Immigration and Customs Enforcement and most of Customs and Border Protection, the agencies at the center of the standoff. (rollcall.com) Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in mid-April that Republicans wanted “multiple years of funding” for the immigration agencies, and Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham said the party would use reconciliation to get there without Democratic votes. (thehill.com) Democrats have tied their opposition to demands for new limits on federal immigration agents after fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in March that Democrats would not support more money for what he called Trump’s “rogue and deadly militia” without “serious reforms.” (rollcall.com) House Republicans have pushed the other way. Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would hold off on the broader Homeland Security bill until the Senate showed progress on funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol first. (rollcall.com) What the Senate passed this week does not itself spend the money. It creates the budget instructions for a follow-up bill, and that bill still has to be written, survive Senate rule checks, and pass both chambers. (rollcall.com) The next test is whether House Republicans accept the Senate framework quickly enough to unlock the reconciliation bill they have been demanding since the shutdown fight began. (rollcall.com)