DHS funding bill teeters as Democrats balk over ICE concerns

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

Congress is racing to advance the last four federal spending bills through the House Rules Committee in time for a floor vote Thursday.

But Democratic opposition to the bill funding Homeland Security for fiscal year 2026 is threatening to stall progress, even as the Jan. 30 government funding deadline looms.

“Without real reforms and accountability, I will not vote to give the Department of Homeland Security another cent,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., posted Wednesday only hours before the committee markup. “Judicial warrants for arrests. Prosecution of officers who violate our constitutional rights. Cooperation with local law enforcement investigations. No more masks.”

Of the 12 annual appropriations bills, three are law, three await the president’s signature, and two more have passed the House.

The remaining four, released Tuesday, fund Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development; and Homeland Security.

Jayapal, along with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and other prominent House Democrats, believe the $64 billion Homeland Security bill fails to effectively curb Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The debate over whether ICE agents have overstepped their authority reignited after an ICE agent fatally shot a Minnesota woman, who was allegedly trying to run over law enforcement officers with her vehicle.

The Homeland Security appropriations bill keeps funding levels for ICE at $10 billion. It also funds Customs and Border Patrol, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), disaster response agencies and other bipartisan initiatives.

Even though $20 million is set aside to purchase body cameras for federal immigration officers, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., told reporters Wednesday that members “overwhelmingly” believe the modest accountability measures “aren’t enough.”

“There aren’t enough guardrails within this bill. I can still appreciate the work that went into the bill while mentioning that commonsense reforms that Democrats put up as amendments and alternatives were roundly rejected,” Aguilar said. “It’s unfortunate that the behavior of ICE is jeopardizing the Homeland Security bill.”

Aguilar added that he will vote no on the bill unless “substantive changes or amendments in the Rules committee.”

Due to the controversy, the committee has made Homeland Security a stand-alone bill, while packaging the remaining three into a minibus.