Senate Passes $70 Billion Immigration Enforcement Bill After Marathon 18-Hour Vote
Senate Republicans passed $70 billion immigration enforcement legislation early Friday after 18-hour vote-a-rama, funding ICE and Border Patrol for three years without banning Trump settlement fund.
Objective Facts
The Senate passed legislation early Friday to fund President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement agencies after weeks of delays, with senators voting 52-47 for the $70 billion legislation to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the next three years through the end of Trump's term. One Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against it. The final vote followed an 18-hour "vote-a-rama" during which senators could offer amendments, with senators from both parties proposing 29 amendments and motions. The central controversy was the Trump administration's proposed $1.8 billion fund to distribute taxpayer dollars to people who allege they have been politically targeted by the government, perhaps including Jan. 6 insurrectionists, which originated as part of an out-of-court settlement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit brought by President Trump against his own government over the 2019 leak of his tax records. Republicans ultimately defeated multiple attempts by senators on both sides of the aisle to codify ending or changing the settlement fund.
Left-Leaning Perspective
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Republicans for passing the "rotten" bill, saying "Republicans refused to permanently outlaw Trump's $2 billion slush fund, leaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump's personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip," and further criticized Republicans for rejecting Democrats' efforts to include amendments aimed at lowering the cost of housing, health care, gasoline, and child care. Democrats had been hoping to force negotiations over reforms to immigration enforcement practices, including restrictions on face-coverings and a body camera mandate, after federal agents killed two American citizens in Minnesota earlier this year, a fight that led to the longest agency shutdown in U.S. government history. Democrats call the settlement fund a "slush fund" for Trump's allies; Schumer's measure to kill the fund failed in a 50-49 vote but exposed political turmoil among rank-and-file Senate Republicans, with some of them seeking their own amendments to eliminate the fund permanently five months before the November midterm elections.
Right-Leaning Perspective
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told GOP colleagues before the votes the bill would "do nothing more than fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for three years," and stated "We are here today only because Democrats refused to appropriate a single dollar for our border and immigration law enforcement." Republican lawmakers have argued that the funding is necessary to address illegal immigration and provide long-term support for agencies tasked with securing the nation's borders, representing one of the largest investments in immigration enforcement in recent years. Senate Republican Leader John Thune said the fund was a "settled issue," citing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's congressional testimony this week that the Department of Justice would not move forward with it, though Democrats said his word was insufficient.
Deep Dive
Democrats had been blocking ICE and Border Patrol funding for months, demanding policy changes including restrictions on face-coverings and body camera mandates after federal agents killed two American citizens in Minnesota earlier this year, a fight that led to the longest agency shutdown in U.S. government history. The immigration enforcement package, which the president originally asked Congress to pass by June 1, was derailed when the Justice Department announced creation of the $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they were unfairly prosecuted by the government. A group of Republican senators pushed all day and into the night to block the settlement's payouts through legislation, an effort that came after Trump raised new doubts about the settlement's future Wednesday afternoon when he told reporters that the settlement is "very important" and said "I don't know" whether it is dead or on hold. The core tension stems from Republicans' ability to circumvent the Democratic filibuster through budget reconciliation—a procedural tool that requires only 50 votes plus the vice president rather than the typical 60-vote threshold. In another win for Trump, Republicans ultimately approved the bill without killing the $1.8 billion Justice Department fund, though GOP senators still endured hours of painful political votes in which they repeatedly rejected efforts to formally kill the fund. What emerges is a pyrrhic victory: Republicans secured funding for Trump's immigration enforcement but exposed deep fractures within the party over the settlement fund, with six Republicans publicly supporting amendments to ban it. Democrats secured nothing from their blockade—no body camera mandates, no restrictions on officer conduct, no face-covering bans—but preserved the rhetorical argument that Republicans prioritize immigration enforcement over cost-of-living relief. The House still must pass the measure, and the package will move to the House where Speaker Mike Johnson plans to pass it next week.