The U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve a budget bill allocating nearly $70 billion (approximately 2.3 trillion baht) to support the operations of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol throughout the remainder of President Donald Trump's administration.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives approved the budget bill by a vote of 214 to 212, allocating nearly $70 billion (about 2.3 trillion baht) to fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Border Patrol.
This vote followed party lines, though Representative Kevin Cramer, a former Republican who recently became an independent, broke ranks to vote with Democrats against the bill. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump is expected to sign the legislation promptly. The funding will protect and support the operations of these two agencies under the Department of Homeland Security for up to three years.
The White House revealed the budget allocation details in the bill: $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $26 billion for the Border Patrol agency, and an additional $5 billion reserved for unforeseen expenses.
This upfront budget injection will ensure continuous funding for security agencies without interruption, while the Trump administration advances a major plan to arrest and deport approximately one million immigrants annually. This amount is in addition to nearly $140 billion previously approved by Congress last year under Trump's tax cuts and spending legislation.
Before the bill passed the House, Speaker Mike Johnson faced significant challenges in unifying party support, as the legislation was previously delayed amid controversies over Trump's push for a $1 billion budget to secure the White House, including funding for a new ballroom, and an additional $1.8 billion to compensate political allies who claimed unfair government scrutiny.
Both proposals were criticized as "political poison," prompting Republicans to remove the ballroom funding and dismiss various legal amendments, ultimately leaving only provisions focused on genuine immigration law enforcement. Republicans aim to use this issue as a key platform for the upcoming midterm elections.
This legislation ends a prolonged conflict in Congress after Democrats refused to approve Homeland Security funding in protest against immigration officers who fatally shot two Americans, Alex Pretto and Rene Good, in Minneapolis in January. This dispute led to a partial government shutdown lasting 76 days—the longest in the department's history—before a temporary resolution in April.
Democrats sought to impose reforms on immigration officers, such as banning the use of masks to conceal identities, requiring clear display of identification during operations, and mandating court warrants before entering private property. However, talks with the White House failed, leading Republicans to use a special Senate parliamentary procedure last week to bypass Democratic delays and pass the law without any restrictions on officers' conduct.