U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) holds a press conference after the House passage of an Immigration bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on June 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A bill to provide nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, fueling the administration’s deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House.
Republicans used their majority to get the bill over the finish line, funding a pair of Homeland Security agencies through the next three years. The bill passed by a vote of 214-212, over the objections of Democrats.
The White House says the bill will provide $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $26 billion for the Border Patrol and another $5 billion to cover unforeseen costs. It front-loads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport some 1 million people per year.
Speaker Mike Johnson needed near-perfect attendance and unity on his side to complete weeks of action. The legislation got sidetracked over $1 billion for White House security, including for Mr. Trump’s new ballroom, and a $1.8 billion fund to compensate his allies who claim they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Those proposals proved politically toxic and were scrapped.
Now, the bill is focused entirely on immigration enforcement, a topic that Republicans have treated as a defining issue between the two major political parties and one they hope will carry them to victory in this year’s midterm elections.
“It’s long overdue,” said Johnson, R-La, of the bill. “We have to fund border security and immigration enforcement, and it’s sad that Republicans have to do it on our own.” But Democratic Rep Lloyd Doggett of Texas called it a “slush fund for ICE”.
Funding accelerates Trump’s deportation agenda
The funding comes on top of the nearly $140 billion that the Republican-controlled Congress gave ICE and Customs and Border Protection last year as part of Mr. Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill.
Democrats objected to giving the agencies more money without significant changes in the way they operate after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. For example, Democrats insisted that agents remove masks and be required to display their ID badges during enforcement operations and that they get a judicial warrant before entering private property. Instead, the funding will come with virtually no strings attached.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Republicans weren’t focused on the top priorities of the American people and have cut access to Medicaid and nutrition assistance through Trump’s earlier tax and spending cut bill.
“Republicans have now come back for more, to give ICE and Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine another $70 billion blank check, with no oversight, no accountability and no guardrails,” Jeffries said.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise countered that Democrats were not adequately supportive of law enforcement.
Published – June 10, 2026 05:30 am IST
