Split DHS Funding—ICE Must Not Survive This Budget

Congress faces a January 30 deadline to complete funding for fiscal year 2026. Five appropriations bills—covering the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies—are ready to move. One bill is not: the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which continues full funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement without meaningful accountability. House Republicans have bundled the DHS bill together with five other funding measures into a single six-bill package, forcing the Senate to vote on all or nothing. This maneuver is designed to shield ICE from scrutiny by holding essential government functions hostage. The Senate must reject this tactic. On January 22, the House passed H.R. 7147, the standalone DHS appropriations bill, maintaining ICE’s current funding levels while adding only limited reporting requirements. This occurred despite mounting evidence of unconstitutional conduct and lethal force by ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The bill now sits before the Senate, where leadership has the authority to demand a separate vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has refused to allow DHS to be considered on its own, insisting instead on a combined package. This approach is not about keeping the government open. It is about protecting ICE from accountability. Recent events make that unacceptable. A whistleblower has revealed an internal DHS memo authorizing ICE agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant, in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. ICE has been implicated in repeated acts of violence, including the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota—the ninth ICE shooting since September 2025. These abuses follow more than two decades of systemic misconduct since ICE and CBP were created in 2003. Compounding the danger, ICE recently received billions in additional funding through the so-called “One Big Beautiful” bill, with no meaningful guardrails or oversight. Congress effectively handed ICE a massive slush fund while expanding its operational reach and shielding it from consequences. Senators must not allow this to continue. The solution is straightforward: fund the rest of the government immediately and demand a standalone vote on DHS. This preserves funding for essential agencies while allowing Congress to confront the reality that ICE is out of control. Any Senate action to separate or amend DHS funding will require a new vote in the House, and representatives must be prepared now to reject any final bill that preserves ICE’s current funding and impunity. No appropriations bill or continuing resolution should maintain funding for ICE without fundamental change. Congress has the power of the purse, and it must use it. Anything less signals that constitutional violations and deadly force will be tolerated as long as they are bundled with unrelated priorities. I urge you to demand a separate vote on DHS funding and to block any measure that continues funding ICE as it currently exists. Accountability is not optional, and Congress must not be coerced into abandoning it.