The Republican congressional majority approved a reconciliation spending package that adds roughly $70 billion to funding for ICE and CBP, moving forward despite extensive public calls for reform following high-profile deaths in Minnesota. Major polls (Economist/YouGov, Quinnipiac, NBC News) showed strong support for reforming or abolishing ICE and widespread disapproval of its enforcement practices. Democrats pushed for safeguards and oversight, but GOP leaders blocked those measures and used reconciliation to avoid a 60-vote Senate threshold. The president is expected to sign the bill into law imminently.
Republicans Approve $70 Billion More For ICE And CBP Despite Strong Public Calls For Reform
Immigration agents leave a residence in Minneapolis after knocking on the door on Jan. 28, 2026.(Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
As 2026 began and the nation reacted to the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, public outrage over immigration enforcement intensified and became measurable in national polls. Several surveys showed broad support for changing how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates — including calls to reform or abolish the agency.
What The Polls Showed
An Economist/YouGov survey found that 47% of Americans said ICE was making the country less safe and 46% favored abolishing the agency. Around the same time, a Quinnipiac poll reported that 57% of respondents disapproved of how ICE enforces immigration laws. An NBC News poll in February found that nearly three in four U.S. adults supported either reforming or abolishing the agency.
What Congress Did
Democratic lawmakers attempted to use those public attitudes to press for additional safeguards, oversight, and restrictions on federal immigration agencies as part of spending legislation that funds ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Four months later, the Republican congressional majority moved forward without adopting those measures.
Using the budget reconciliation process — which prevented Senate Democrats from enforcing the usual 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber — Republicans narrowly approved a spending package that will fund ICE and CBP through the remainder of President Trump’s second term and adds roughly $70 billion more to immigration enforcement.
GOP leaders blocked efforts to include several Democratic proposals, including a provision that would formally end the discussion of a White House compensation fund. The final bill contains no newly mandated oversight mechanisms, transparency requirements, or restrictions on enforcement tactics critics have linked to civil liberties concerns and deadly incidents.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, condemned the vote: “House Republicans are choosing to hand over $70 billion more in taxpayer dollars to fund ICE and Border Patrol’s chaos in our communities. This is on top of the $140 billion they already gave ICE in their ‘Big, Ugly Bill.’ MAGA Republicans refused to negotiate on popular and essential reforms to responsibly enforce our immigration laws while respecting the civil liberties of our people. I voted hell no.”
Raskin added: “ICE and Border Patrol aren’t targeting ‘the worst of the worst.’ College students, nurses, babies and children, pregnant women, cancer patients, and even American citizens have been rounded up in their lawless, brutal raids. This corrupt agency is making all of us less safe. We need affordable health care, not an open money spigot for ICE corruption and masked federal agents killing American citizens and disappearing our neighbors from the streets.”
What Comes Next
With Republican control of the reconciliation process, Democrats had limited options to alter the bill in the Senate. The president is expected to sign the package into law, possibly as soon as Wednesday.
This article was first published on MS NOW.
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