House Republicans Advance Two-Track Plan to Supercharge ICE Funding (Again)

Budget framework unlocks $70 billion for enforcement; plus separate funding vote to re-open DHS.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Wednesday advanced a two-track strategy to pour billions more into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol while postponing a full funding deal for the Department of Homeland Security, sharpening a partisan fight over immigration enforcement and the ongoing DHS shutdown.

The plan, backed by President Donald Trump and driven by hard-line immigration allies in Congress, would first use the budget reconciliation process to send tens of billions of dollars to ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection outside the normal Senate filibuster process. GOP leaders then plan to move a separate appropriations package later to reopen the rest of DHS.

The strategy effectively gives ICE a second major funding boost after Republicans already approved a massive enforcement increase in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Critics say the approach underscores how deeply GOP lawmakers have aligned themselves with Trump’s deportation agenda and White House aide Stephen Miller’s demands for more aggressive immigration enforcement.

Democrats have accused Republicans of choosing to reward ICE while keeping the rest of DHS in limbo, arguing that the tactic prolongs the shutdown and delays pay and operations across the department. They say the party is using the shutdown to force through an immigration agenda that would never win broader bipartisan support.

The House vote came as Republicans struggled to lock down a separate bipartisan measure to fund DHS without new money for ICE and parts of CBP. GOP leaders have resisted that bill, saying it does not sufficiently support immigration enforcement.

The showdown has left DHS caught in the middle, with lawmakers unable to agree on whether to reopen the department first and negotiate ICE funding later, or to fund enforcement first and handle the rest of DHS after that.

Republicans’ two-step approach reflects a broader political calculation: support for ICE remains a core priority for the party, even as immigrant advocates and some moderates warn that the agency’s tactics have become increasingly aggressive and unaccountable.

For now, the shutdown continues, and the fight over whether to fully fund DHS — or to do so only after ICE gets its share — remains unresolved. This remains a developing story. More to follow.