WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a $70 billion reconciliation package, joining the Senate in approving a blank check for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue terrorizing communities, tear-gassing children, attacking due process, and abducting and killing our neighbors with impunity. 

Despite claiming that reconciliation, which would fund ICE and CBP for the next three years, was necessary to prevent the agencies from being defunded after lawmakers voted to withhold funding absent meaningful reforms, Congress is now proposing an additional $65 billion for the DHS in FY2027 appropriations. This comes after the country endured the longest government shutdown in U.S. history over efforts to secure commonsense reforms, accountability measures, and safeguards against misconduct and criminal behavior by immigration enforcement agents. Rather than addressing those concerns, the majority appears determined to expand funding and authority for agencies that continue to operate with insufficient oversight and accountability.

While the reconciliation package allocates billions more for immigration operations, critical programs like healthcare and food assistance have faced continuous budget cuts. The American people’s top concerns continue to be economic performance, healthcare, and civil rights. 

Said Nicole Melaku, NPNA executive director, “Budgets are moral documents. With this vote, not only does Congress cement ICE as the largest enforcement agency in U.S. history, but now we must brace for the expansion of the mass deportation machine at the expense of taxpayers and families. Despite a worsening affordability crisis, representatives in Congress have chosen to fund violent immigration enforcement instead. NPNA doubles down on our call for full accountability, Congressional oversight, and our commitment to be relentless in our pursuit to empower and protect immigrant communities. To protect our communities is at the core of inclusion.”

Said Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), “The passage of this reckless spending package is a betrayal of our nation’s values and priorities. At a time when families are struggling to afford healthcare, put food on the table, and build economic security, Congress has chosen to hand over billions of taxpayer dollars to expand a deportation machine that separates families, traumatizes children, and undermines fundamental civil rights. Our communities do not need more raids, detention centers, and militarization—they need investments in opportunity, health, and dignity. We will continue to stand with immigrant families and all those demanding accountability, due process, and a future where every person is treated with humanity and respect.” 

Said Carlos Aleman, CEO of the Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama (HICA), “We have seen this playbook before. In the same season that the Supreme Court gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for states to redraw their maps and erase Black voters from meaningful representation, Congress is handing ICE and CBP $70 billion to terrorize our immigrant communities and tear families apart. This is a blatant attempt to redraw the lines of belonging, to declare that the rest of us can be diluted, detained, or disappeared. This $70 billion does not make us safer. It funds raids, detention, and the separation of families while people across the country are choosing between rent and groceries. At HICA, we will keep standing with our community, because they deserve a country that invests in their health, their children’s education, and their chance to build something lasting.”

Said Lisa Sherman-Luna, Executive Director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), “While the brave of us organize in the streets to protect our neighbors, go door to door to make sure our communities have what they need to survive, and fight to build a good life in a country that often hurts us, Congress continues to gleefully grease the wheels of a devastating machine that in time will threaten every community and family in our nation. It’s clear that in order to shape a future where all families—no matter the color of our skin, what’s in our wallet, how we worship, or how we came to call our nation home—we must build an unmistakable force of people power by knowing our rights and organizing to defend them. From the streets, to the Capitol, to the courts, we’ll never back down from protecting our communities and building a movement that will deliver a country that works for all of us.”

Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition, “Yesterday’s vote was a dangerous escalation of Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and a reckless misuse of taxpayer dollars. Instead of investing in the programs and services that help all working families thrive, Congress has handed ICE and Border Patrol a blank check to expand deportation, the private prison industry, and border militarization. This taxpayer-funded windfall is built on the false premise that scapegoating and targeting immigrants will improve public safety or improve the lives of millions of Americans. Instead, this vote will destabilize communities, separate families, and give ICE a license to return to the lawless and violent actions we saw in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country.  Poll after poll shows that 65% of Americans disapprove of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws and want Congress to rein in agencies that have gone rogue. We thank those elected officials who reject this bill and all it represents, and we call on the whole of Congress to reverse course and fight for a country where all families have opportunity and access to the American Dream.”

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The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a multi-ethnic, multiracial coalition of over 76 of the nation’s largest immigrant and refugee rights organizations with reach across over 40 states. Together with our members, we advance immigrant and refugee equity and inclusion, build and expand immigration legal services and integration programming capacity, and drive campaigns that strengthen democracy through increased civic participation. See our website for more information at partnershipfornewamericans.org.