President Donald Trump officially signed the “Secure America Act” on Wednesday, which is a $70 billion reconciliation bill to fund ICE and CBP through 2029.
Congress passed the bill largely along party lines with fierce opposition from Democrats. The bill was the last piece needed to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which faced a funding lapse from February until late April.
“We’ll give the heroes of ICE and Border Patrol […] the support and resources they need to defend our borders, protect our homeland and to keep America safe,”the president said, referring to the law enforcement officers as “heroes.”
“[The Democrats] want to drag us straight back to chaos and crime,” Trump added.
Democrats wanted to see major immigration enforcement reforms, like the use of judicial warrants instead of administrative ones for arrests, but ultimately lost the battle, as the reconciliation process does not require 60 votes in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed frustration that there were no restrictions thrown into the bill to limit the Justice Department’s once-proposed $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said was no longer going to be pursued, Townhall previously reported.
“After tonight’s vote, it’s clear to Americans that Republicans refused to outlaw Donald Trump’s $2 billion slush fund,” Schumer said in a June 5 statement.
“Senate Republicans tried to bury their radical agenda in the dead of night, but Democrats forced them to answer for it — amendment after amendment, vote after vote,” he added.
Speaker Mike Johnson touted the passage of the legislation in the House, as it passed with an extremely narrow 214-212 vote.
“All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in American communities — policies that have been soundly rejected by the American people over and over again,” Johnson stated Tuesday.