House Advances GOP Plan to Fund ICE, Border Patrol Without Democrats

House Republicans on Wednesday cleared the first procedural hurdle in a plan to finance Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection without Democratic votes. The House adopted a Senate-approved budget resolution 215-211, a narrow win that did not itself spend money but directed committees to write legislation that could provide about $70 billion over three years for immigration enforcement.

In practical terms, that scale would give Republicans a path to expand ICE and CBP operations well beyond current levels, with money that could support hiring, overtime, detention space, transportation, surveillance and border infrastructure. Some Republicans have discussed a broader range, from $70 billion to as much as $140 billion, underscoring how large the enforcement push could become if reconciliation advances on schedule.

The vote was the opening move in a strategy built around budget reconciliation, the fast-track process that can bypass the Senate filibuster and pass with a simple majority. That matters because the resolution is only a blueprint. Committees still have to draft the actual spending language, and Senate Republicans have set a May 15 deadline for that work. Donald Trump has publicly pressed Republicans to finish the funding push by June 1.

The Senate had already adopted the budget blueprint 50-48 after an overnight vote-a-rama. Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski voted no, Chuck Grassley missed the vote while recovering from gallstone surgery, and Mark Warner was absent after his daughter’s death. One Republican amendment sponsored by Lindsey Graham passed 98-0 to create a reserve fund for deporting certain noncitizens convicted of rape, murder or sexual abuse of a minor. Democrats, meanwhile, forced votes on affordability issues including health care, food stamps, school meals, tariffs, electricity, childcare and gas prices, and the Senate rejected a Chuck Schumer amendment to lower out-of-pocket health care costs by 48-50.

The showdown comes amid a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown that began in mid-February and has become the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats said most of DHS could be funded immediately if House leaders brought up the Senate-passed bill covering the rest of the department, but Republicans chose to split off ICE and Border Patrol instead. House Democrats said they were ready to back the broader DHS funding bill, while GOP leaders pressed ahead with the two-track plan that would first finance immigration enforcement and then reopen the rest of the department.