{"id":1276,"date":"2026-06-05T10:08:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2026-06-05T10:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:08:58","slug":"senate-passes-70b-immigration-enforcement-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1276","title":{"rendered":"Senate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Senate passed legislation to fund President Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday morning, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.<\/p>\n

Read more Judy Chu doesn\u2019t know much about Woodrow Wilson \u2014 but here\u2019s why you should<\/a><\/p>\n

Senators voted 52-47 for the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by Democrats and Republicans to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump\u2019s settlement fund for political allies who believe they have been politically persecuted.<\/p>\n

Republicans cleared a major hurdle overnight when they defeated an amendment proposed by one of their own members, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, that would have redirected payments from the settlement to members of law enforcement who were injured in the\u00a0Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.<\/p>\n

The amendments were a test of party unity that complicated what should have been an easy vote for Republicans who wanted to keep the focus on immigration enforcement in an election year.<\/p>\n

Instead, they spent almost a full day haggling among themselves over whether to block the settlement fund, even after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had said earlier this week that it would not go forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would have been done several hours ago if we weren\u2019t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before midnight.<\/p>\n

Thune himself has criticized the judgement fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump\u2019s\u00a0lawsuit against the IRS\u00a0over the leak of his tax returns and has angered many of his GOP colleagues.<\/p>\n

But he has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked since early this year, and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage in the House.<\/p>\n

Still, a group of Republican senators pushed all day and into the night to block the settlement\u2019s payouts through legislation.<\/p>\n

That effort came after Trump raised new doubts about the settlement\u2019s future Wednesday afternoon \u2014 just after the Senate had voted to start debate on the immigration bill \u2014 when he told reporters that the settlement is \u201cvery important\u201d and said \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d whether it is dead or on hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d have to ask the lawyers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Senators push back multiple attempts to ban settlement fund<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first vote on Thursday morning, a Democratic effort to ban the settlement, was held open for several hours as three senators, including Cassidy, decided whether to support it.<\/p>\n

The Democratic motion was narrowly defeated when Cassidy eventually voted against it and the two other GOP senators \u2014 Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, both of whom are up for reelection this year \u2014 voted for it.<\/p>\n

Read more Zelensky calls for face-to-face negotiations to end war in public letter to Putin<\/a><\/p>\n

The Senate then rejected a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also have banned the settlement fund but moved the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.<\/p>\n

Tillis said the fund is a political liability for the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?\u201d Tillis said. \u201cOtherwise, you\u2019re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they\u2019re not moving forward with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s amendment to compensate the injured police officers was a pointed rebuke, as payouts from Trump\u2019s fund could have potentially gone to Trump supporters who\u00a0beat police\u00a0and\u00a0attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

Despite Blanche\u2019s comments, Cassidy said that the fund is still part of an active settlement and \u201cabsolutely can be used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate rejected several other Democratic efforts to try to block or limit the fund, including amendments to ban payments to Jan. 6 defendants who injured law enforcement officers.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are now \u201cleaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump\u2019s personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE and Border Patrol money has been delayed for months<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enactment of the roughly $70 billion bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who\u00a0demanded policy changes\u00a0after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Senate Republicans used a\u00a0complicated procedural maneuver\u00a0to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes.<\/p>\n

But it took weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House \u2014 including a\u00a0$1 billion proposal\u00a0for White House security and\u00a0Trump\u2019s ballroom\u00a0that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.<\/p>\n

Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on\u00a0federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.<\/p>\n

After federal agents shot\u00a0Renee Good\u00a0and\u00a0Alex Pretti\u00a0in Minneapolis, Trump\u00a0agreed to a Democratic request\u00a0that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement tactics.<\/p>\n

Congress eventually funded the rest of the Homeland Security Department at the end of April with Democratic support, but ICE and Border Patrol has remained without regular funding.<\/p>\n

Read more Party divisions persist past primary \u2014 on both sides<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate passed legislation to fund President Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday morning, as senators voted 52-47 for the $70B legislation to finance ICE and Border Patrol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nSenate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=1276\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate passes $70B immigration enforcement bill - 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