Senate approves $70 billion plan to fund ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen Homeland Security
Photo: Wikimedia CommonsThe Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House.
The Senate adopted the final resolution 50-48, just past 3:30 a.m., after an overnight series of amendment votes — a "vote-a-rama" — that began Wednesday evening. The $70 billion budget resolution would fund the two agencies for three years, through the rest of President Donald Trump's term.
Republicans are funding the two immigration enforcement agencies through budget reconciliation, a process that requires only a simple majority and bypasses the filibuster rules that would otherwise require 60 votes, when Republicans hold only 53 Senate seats. The same process was used last year to pass Trump's package of tax and spending cuts with no Democratic votes.
"We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Democrats used the overnight session to propose amendments aimed at lowering health care expenses and other household costs, in an effort to contrast with Republicans' focus on immigration enforcement. "Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The entire department has been shut down since mid-February, as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants.
After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the DHS funding lapsed with no agreement on changes to the administration's immigration enforcement tactics.
In March, the Senate passed legislation by voice vote that would separate out ICE and Border Patrol and fund the rest of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration, as security lines grew long at some airports. But Republicans in the House refused to consider it, saying they would not support any bill that did not include money for immigration enforcement. Congress then left town for a two-week recess, leaving the issue unresolved. Trump has used executive orders to pay some department salaries in the meantime, but the future of those paychecks is uncertain.
Once the House approves the framework and the Senate parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure. The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House say they will not take that bill up until the Senate shows progress toward funding ICE and Border Patrol, as well.
Thune and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and get it to Trump's desk in the coming weeks, along with the rest of Homeland Security Department funding that has already passed the Senate. But that could prove difficult as many in the party see the budget bill as the last real chance this year to enact their priorities. Republicans in both the Senate and House have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and Trump's proof of citizenship voting bill, called the SAVE America Act.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly held up the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other legislation. "This is the last train leaving the station," Kennedy said, predicting they would not be able to pass any other major bills ahead of November's midterm elections. But he withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed.
During the recess, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that they would pursue a two-track approach — pass the Senate bill that includes most of the department's funding through regular order and use the party-line bill to pass ICE and Border Patrol funding. Weeks later, though, Johnson has still not said when the House will take up the Senate's legislation that would fund the rest of the department. And it is unclear if members of his GOP conference will unite behind the narrowed budget bill, as some House Republicans have argued, like Kennedy, that they should add other priorities to the legislation.
Johnson said this week that the sequencing of the two bills is important. House lawmakers do not want to see the rest of the department funded without ICE and Border Patrol, he said.
But Thune warned after the Senate vote that other parts of the Homeland Security Department may run out of money before they are able to finish the winding budget process and fund those two agencies. He said he hopes the adoption of the budget resolution is a signal to the House that "we're going to be following through."
"We'll see what they can do with it," Thune said. "And if they can't, I guess we will go to the next plan."
Sources: The Associated Press, "Senate passes budget plan for ICE and Border Patrol in bid to reopen DHS" (Nov. 8, 2026); Fox 5 DC, "Senate passes budget plan to fund ICE, Border Patrol in effort to reopen Homeland Security" (Nov. 2026); The Guardian, "Senate Republicans bypass Democrats to advance $70bn ICE and border patrol plan in 'vote-a-rama' — US politics live" (Nov. 2026).
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