WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress gave final approval Tuesday, June 9, to the $70 billion “Secure America Act,” that funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for the next three years, handing President Donald J Trump a major win on his America First immigration enforcement agenda.
The Senate passed the measure early June 5 by a 52-47 vote, with no Democrats in support and one Republican — Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voting against it. Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to bypass a Democratic filibuster, forcing an 18-hour “vote-a-rama” of amendments before final passage. The House cleared the identical Senate bill Tuesday on a narrow 214-212 party-line vote.
The legislation provides roughly $38 billion for ICE and $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, with $5 billion set aside for unforeseen costs. It funds hiring additional agents, expanding deportations of people living in the country illegally, and upgrading border security infrastructure. The money is in addition to prior appropriations and locks in funding through the end of Trump’s current term, shielding the agencies from future annual spending fights.
President Trump has made mass deportations and stricter border enforcement central to his second-term priorities. Republican leaders said the bill fulfills those goals by ending what they called Democratic attempts to defund the agencies and giving them the resources needed to carry out large-scale enforcement operations.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was the most vocal supporter of the “Secure America Act,” describing the bill as necessary because Democrats had “walked away” from negotiations and were attempting to “defund” or “refuse to fund” ICE and Border Patrol.
“Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” Thune said prior to the bill’s passage.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a lead architect and sponsor of the bill, shared that it “fully funds Border Patrol and ICE” through the end of Trump’s term to carry out large-scale enforcement operations that Democrats were blocking.
“Republicans are doing something that must be done quickly, and that our Democrat colleagues are trying to prevent us from doing. That something is simple: fully fund Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great threat to the United States,” Graham wrote when he introduced the bill back in April 2026.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, condemned Republicans for cutting “another massive blank check for ICE and Border Patrol — without any reforms, or even basic guardrails.” She has repeatedly described the agencies as “out-of-control” and “terrorizing people, including American citizens.”
Democrats, who had blocked routine Homeland Security funding earlier this year while demanding accountability measures after the deaths of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti involving federal agents in January, sharply criticized the standalone reconciliation package for lacking any new oversight or reforms.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D_WA), in floor debate on her “no” vote, questioned whether colleagues would support oversight and civil liberties protections after use-of-force incidents involving federal agents. She pressed for answers on “what are we going to do about this use of force?”
Lawmakers from Washington state, all Democrats, voted against the Secure America Act and also issued strong statements of opposition.
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA01) said she voted against the bill because it “lacks the legal guardrails needed to prevent the violence that is terrorizing our communities & to hold ICE agents & leadership accountable for their actions.”
Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA02) said the measure “does not create accountability for ICE’s reckless enforcement agenda that is brutalizing communities in Northwest Washington.” He added that he voted no because “ICE [must] follow the same rules as every other law enforcement agency, like obtaining judicial warrants for searches and wearing identification.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA07) called the bill “a sham” that hands “another $70 BILLION to ICE and CBP with zero meaningful guardrails or reforms.” She said it “does absolutely nothing to address the real issues Americans are facing” and vowed, “I’m a NO.”
The bill now heads to President Trump, who is expected to sign it immediately.
Author: Mario Lotmore
