House advances $70 billion immigration enforcement bill toward floor vote

A $70 billion immigration enforcement bill moved one step closer to the House floor, with Republicans using it to lock in a major surge of money for border and interior enforcement. The package, called the Secure America Act, advanced out of the House Rules Committee on a 7-4 party-line vote after more than six hours of debate, and House leaders were preparing floor action as early as Tuesday.

What the bill buys is unusually specific. It would direct $38.6 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $22.6 billion to Border Patrol, $5 billion to the Department of Homeland Security and $108.5 million for child exploitation investigations. In practical terms, that means more money for arrests, detention, deportation operations and border staffing, while also boosting investigative work tied to child exploitation cases. The financing would run through the end of President Donald Trump’s term, turning the measure into a long-term bet on enforcement rather than a short-term stopgap.

The House vote followed the Senate’s 52-47 passage on Friday, when Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to oppose it. Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans could afford only three defections if all members were present, underscoring how narrow the margins remain as leaders try to keep the party unified behind Trump’s immigration agenda.

Democrats tried to slow the bill by forcing votes on a series of failed amendments. Those proposals targeted the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, sought to bar federal compensation for Jan. 6 rioters, and attempted to attach Affordable Care Act tax credits and new training requirements for immigration enforcement officers. None succeeded, but the amendments highlighted how much broader the fight has become, stretching from immigration enforcement to January 6, health care and executive-branch spending.

Republicans are racing to send the measure to Trump’s desk after missing his self-imposed June 1 deadline. The push comes after an earlier budget clash over ICE and CBP funding helped drive a partial government shutdown that lasted more than two months, making the bill both a policy statement and a political repair job. For GOP leaders, it is meant to show that the party can still deliver the hard-line border spending Trump wants; for Democrats, it locks in a funding structure they say favors enforcement at the expense of other priorities.