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Democrats Back Homeland Security Funding Bill With Modest Curbs On ICE

WASHINGTON ― Democrats touted modest constraints on President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement in a bipartisan spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, warning that shutting down the agency as some progressives have called for would do little to restrain Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown.

“ICE must be reined in, and unfortunately, neither a [continuing resolution] nor a shutdown would do anything to restrain it, because, thanks to Republicans, ICE is now sitting on a massive slush fund it can tap whether or not we pass a funding bill,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement, referring to $75 billion in additional funding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement already received from Republicans last year.

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“The suggestion that a shutdown in this moment might curb the lawlessness of this administration is not rooted in reality: under a CR and in a shutdown, this administration can do everything they are already doing — but without any of the critical guardrails and constraints imposed by a full-year funding bill,” Murray added.

Some on the left have called for denying funding to ICE in response to the agency’s often brutal tactics, rounding up both immigrants and U.S. citizens in Minnesota and in other states across the country. Others want to restructure or abolish ICE entirely.

But the $64 billion DHS funding bill doesn’t do that. It keeps spending for ICE flat at $10 billion relative to last year’s funding levels. It also includes $18 billion for Customs and Border Protection, which Democrats noted is $1 billion less than requested by the Trump administration.

“There is much more we must do to rein in DHS, which I will continue to press for. But the hard truth is that Democrats must win political power to enact the kind of accountability we need,” Murray argued in her statement.

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New constraints on DHS include $20 million that must be used to purchase and operate body-worn cameras for ICE and CBP officers, a directive for DHS to provide de-escalation training for ICE and CBP agents, as well as training reminding officers of Americans’ right to record any interactions they have with them. Many videos have gone viral on social media displaying the aggressive behavior toward people recording ICE in the streets of Minneapolis.

The bill also establishes oversight and transparency into how DHS is spending its massive, unprecedented infusion of funding, passed by Republicans in their One Big Beautiful Bill last year, and it restricts DHS’s ability to transfer funding across accounts as a way to prevent the administration from circumventing Congress.

However, it’s unclear whether these provisions will quell the deep anger within the Democratic Party targeted at ICE, which boiled over after an ICE agent shot and killed a Minneapolis woman earlier this month.

“The actions of ICE — they are unconstitutional, unlawful, they are cruel,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said last week during an interview on MS NOW. “They are rogue, they are racist, and they are terrorizing communities.”

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DHS is set to run out of funding by Jan. 30, and lawmakers are racing to pass bills to ensure all agencies get new funding by that deadline. The House is expected to vote on the bill this week, and Democratic leaders are hoping to avoid another shutdown so they can focus on Trump’s lackluster economy as a way to claw back power in the 2026 midterm elections.

“I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE. I share their frustration with the out-of-control agency,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the U.S. Coast Guard will be adversely affected,” she warned. “All while ICE continues functioning without any change in their operations due to $75 billion it received in the One Big Beautiful Bill. A continuing resolution will jettison the guardrails we have secured while ceding authority to President Trump, Stephen Miller, and Secretary Noem.”