The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed a budget resolution Wednesday night, clearing the way for the party to pass legislation in the coming weeks that would provide tens of billions in additional funding for immigration enforcement.
The 215-211 votes along party lines Unlocks a convoluted budget reconciliation process that will allow the Republican Party to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term. California Independent Republican Kevin Kiley, a former Republican, voted “attendance.”
Budget resolution has been approved by the Senate earlier this month and does not require Trump’s signature.
Combined with a separate Senate-passed bill that Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to bring to a vote in the House, these two measures are expected to finally end the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security that began in mid-February.
House Budget Committee ranking member Rep. Brendan Boyle, R-Pennsylvania, said during floor debate that lawmakers should impose restrictions on immigration agents after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
“I think the vast majority of Americans agree with me that we must have a secure border, but we cannot allow any agency of our government to carry out killings on our streets,” he said.
Republicans removed ICE and Border Patrol funding from the annual DHS appropriations bill after negotiators failed to broker an agreement with Democrats to place up-to-date barriers to immigration operations.
Putting funding for the two agencies in the reconciliation bill would allow Republicans to move the measure through the Senate without securing the 60 votes to end debate, which would require bipartisanship.
Immigration enforcement debate
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said the closure is not “just because of the inconvenience of long lines at airports.”
“This is an unprecedented national security and public safety crisis. And this is the moment when we take away the keys from children and don’t talk about this nonsense anymore,” he added.
DHS includes the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service, and the Transportation Security Administration.
Arrington used the debate time to criticize Democrats requiring restrictions on immigration agents, arguing that federal officers should not be required to obtain a court order to enter someone’s home in order to keep the person in the country without the proper documents.
“There is no former Democratic or Republican commander in chief who has ever found this acceptable,” he said.
Democrats also called on federal immigration agents to:
- Wear body cameras.
- Wear masks only to conceal your identity in “extraordinary and unusual circumstances.”
- Do not undertake roving patrols.
- Don’t confine people in specific places, such as houses of worship, schools, or polling places.
- Do not engage in racial profiling.
- Do not detain or deport American citizens.
Up to $140 billion
The GOP used reconciliation process last year it passed a “big, beautiful” law that included, among other things, an additional $170 billion to enforce immigration and deportation laws.
Under instructions included in the budget resolution, the reconciliation bill that Republicans hope to approve next month could cost as much as $140 billion. But GOP lawmakers expect the price tag to be around $70 billion.
The additional funding is significantly higher than the $10 billion allocation for ICE and the $18.3 billion for Customs and Border Protection that Congress was expected to approve earlier this year. Approximately $550 million of CBP’s total budget is allocated to the Border Patrol.
White House officials have repeatedly urged lawmakers to quickly approve the reconciliation bill, which has not yet been released, and House Republicans to approve the Senate-passed DHS appropriations bill for Trump’s signature.
The Office of Management and Budget was dispatched note this week to lawmakers, notifying them that the administration is running out of money to pay DHS workers during the shutdown.
“If funding runs out, the Administration will be unable to pay all DHS staff starting in May, which will once again wreak havoc on air travel, leave key law enforcement officials – including our brave Secret Service agents – and the Coast Guard without pay, and threaten national security,” the report said.
