“No blank check for a lawless ICE”: Senate funds TSA, leaves out immigration groups
The U.S. Senate voted early Friday to partially fund the Department of Homeland Security, providing much needed relief to the Transportation Security Administration and travelers across the country. Notably, the funding excluded immigration enforcement groups like Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“In the wake of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Senate Democrats were clear. No blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said to press following the vote.
Schumer said the funding “could have been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn’t stood in the way.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., took his own shot at the other side of the aisle after the vote. “President Trump should never have had to step in to rescue TSA workers and U.S. air travel. We are here because, thanks to Democrats’ determined refusal to reach an agreement, there will be no Homeland Security funding bill this year,” he said.
TSA, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will all receive funding from this bill. The deadlock on immigration enforcement reforms remains stagnant with Democrats’ demands for ICE agents to stop masking their faces and provide judicial warrants on arrests still unfulfilled. The newly appointed DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem, said he’s open to ending administrative warrants.
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The bill now awaits passage in the House of Representatives where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he will convene representatives to decide next steps. Johnson cannot fast-track bills on a Friday due to House rules, so conservatives will have to band together to push this funding through the finish line. However, the likelihood of that buy-in from Republicans is uncertain without the immigration funding.
Johnson met with the Freedom Caucus, the ultra-conservative coalition of Republican representatives, to discuss the bill. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, called the bill an “absurdity,” and the Freedom Caucus is likely to hold up the bill using it as leverage to pass the Senate-stalled voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, which could substantially change how millions of Americans vote before the 2026 midterms.
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