(The Center Square) – Seven weeks into the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, President Donald Trump is working with Republican congressional leaders to craft a party-line budget reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies.
Congress has failed to come to an agreement over a Homeland Security appropriations bill since February, when Democrats demanded that any bill with funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol also include a laundry list of changes to immigration enforcement.
Trump is now taking matters into his own hands, announcing Wednesday that he, Thune, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., “are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster.”
“We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won’t be able to stop us. We will not allow them to hurt the families of these Great Patriots by defunding them,” Trump posted on TruthSocial. “I am asking that the Bill be on my desk NO LATER than June 1st. Our Law Enforcement Officers and the American People should not have to wait until the Democrats see reason[.]"
While other DHS agencies have struggled due to the six-week funding lapse, ICE and CBP have continued operations by dipping into their respective $70 billion funding boost allocated by the Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill passed last year.
That dynamic influenced Thune’s decision to cut a deal with Senate Democrats, passing a bill last week via voice vote that would have funded all of DHS except immigration enforcement.
Thune’s idea was for the House to approve the Senate’s funding deal, then use another reconciliation bill to allocate ICE and Border Patrol their fiscal year 2026 money – without changes to immigration enforcement.
Trump’s announcement, while not explicitly calling on the House to return and pass the Senate compromise, is a strong hint for House Republicans to do just that.
Trump’s June 1 deadline acknowledges that they will have to move quickly before midterm elections in November, where the balance of power in Congress could change.
“These Radical, Weak, and Incompetent Democrats have made clear that if they resume power, they will never again provide funding to secure our Border, or enforce our Immigration Laws,” Trump added in his post. “They want America to be OPEN AND AVAILABLE to Violent Criminals, Thugs, and Lowlifes, not our Great and Loving American Patriots. Don’t forget that in November. WIN THE MIDTERMS!”
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