A Blank Check for Trump’s Immigration Agenda

 

Republicans in Congress are working to pass a party-line bill to fund Donald Trump’s extremist immigration enforcement agenda. While the Senate has already passed bipartisan funding for most government functions, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has chosen to keep crucial parts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shuttered rather than work with Democrats to reach the compromise necessary to pass a full funding package – including support for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Instead of negotiating in good faith to pair funding with commonsense reforms that would actually improve public safety, Republicans are doubling down on Trump’s most unpopular policies while proposing deep cuts to health care, education, and other essential programs.

Topline Talking Points: 

More money for Trump’s extremist immigration policies – but none for health care. 

  • Donald Trump claims it’s “not possible” for the United States to fund Medicare, Medicaid, or child care costs. 

  • Yet when it comes to funding a massive expansion of immigration enforcement – or costly wars overseas – there always seems to be money available.

  • The reality is clear: Trump is prioritizing his political agenda over working families. 

ICE already got a historic funding increase. So why are Republicans demanding more of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars? 

  • Last year, Congressional Republicans approved an additional $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security – an unprecedented increase that far exceeds previous funding levels.

  • DHS hasn’t even spent all of the money approved last year – and the White House is already asking for more. 

Trump and Republicans are blocking commonsense reforms supported by the American people.

  • Democrats support funding DHS and reopening the government, but that funding should come with commonsense guardrails to improve public safety that the American people overwhelmingly support. 

  • Instead, Republicans are ready to hand over billions of additional dollars with virtually no oversight – to an agency that has already been responsible for countless abuses, including the killing of Americans. 

  • Rather than working together to ensure immigration enforcement is safe, targeted, and accountable, this party-line bill strips away meaningful guardrails and gives Trump’s extremist agenda a blank check – a dangerous approach for the American people.

They do not have a plan to fix our broken immigration system. 

  • Throwing more money at immigration enforcement does nothing to address the system’s pervasive problems: overwhelmed immigration courts, an outdated asylum and visa system, legal backlogs, and the lack of legal options for immigrants who want to follow the law. 

  • Instead of pursuing real solutions, Republicans are chasing short-term political wins while refusing to do the hard, necessary work of building an immigration system that is orderly, lawful, and sustainable, and that actually advances American interests.

Refuting False Claims: 

National Security: 

  • Attack: Democrats are shutting down homeland security at a time of heightened global threats. 

  • Response: Republicans are more interested in scoring cheap political points than keeping you safe. If they were truly concerned about defending against terrorist threats, they would stand up to Donald Trump when he fired FBI agents tasked with preventing attacks from Iran or redirected tens of thousands of law enforcement and intelligence officials away from their critical national security missions to support his mass deportation agenda. 

Blame for the Shutdown:

  • Attack: This is a Democratic shutdown that has caused delays at airports and threatened our national security. We’re taking necessary action to resolve it.

  • Response: Democrats already helped fund the vast majority of DHS weeks ago – but that bill has been sitting in the Republican-controlled House gathering dust ever since. If Republicans were serious about ending the shutdown, they could bring that bill to the floor today. Instead, they are holding funding hostage to force through a partisan, controversial proposal that the American people don’t support. 

Border Security: 

  • Attack: If you oppose Trump’s immigration policies, you support open borders. 

  • Response: We support secure borders and the removal of individuals who commit serious crimes. What we oppose are Trump’s ineffective and extreme policies that create chaos, terrorize law-abiding families, and do not improve public safety. Real border security means focusing resources on actual threats – not indiscriminately targeting families, children, or even American citizens.

Law Enforcement:

  • Attack: Democrats are preventing us from targeting dangerous criminals in your community. 

  • Response: Republicans have walked away from good faith negotiations to prioritize the removal of dangerous individuals while protecting public safety. Meanwhile, Trump has gutted the Department of Justice, FBI, National Counterterrorism Center, and more because they are more focused on hitting Trump’s arbitrary deportation targets than on actually reducing crime or improving public safety.

Funding Questions: 

  • Attack: Without this funding, the government cannot arrest criminals or protect communities. 

  • Response: ICE and CBP still have tens of billions of dollars at their disposal thanks to last year’s Republican funding bill. The issue is not a lack of resources – it is a lack of priorities, oversight, and accountability.

Published: April 2026