US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to members of the media as the Trump Cabinet briefs members of Congress on Iran at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026.
Anna Moneymaker getty images
Senate Republicans on Tuesday released the text of a budget proposal to fully fund the two controversial immigration enforcement agencies at the center of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown by the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
The resolution seeks to fund two DHS divisions – Immigration and Customs Enforcementand Customs and Border Protection – without relying on the votes of Democratic senators to do so.
Democrats’ opposition to funding ICE and CBP first led to the partial shutdown of DHS and is continuing it.
The Senate may take a preliminary vote on this remedy Since Tuesday afternoon. The proposal, which directs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary committees to draft a final immigration enforcement bill, sets a cap of $70 billion for each committee.
Trump has set a June 1 deadline to pass final legislation to fund both divisions.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Said, “Republicans are doing something that needs to be done quickly, and our Democrat colleagues are trying to stop us from doing it. It’s something simple: fully funding the Border Patrol and ICE at a time of great threat to the United States.” in a statement.
“With this budget proposal, we are moving forward on sensible immigration policies that secure our border – not backward,” Graham said.
Democrats vowed to fight the bill immediately.
“Instead of doing literally anything to reduce costs, Republicans are spending their time working hard to cut another massive blank check for ICE and Border Patrol — without any reforms, or even basic guardrails,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.
Democrats refused to fund parts of ICE and CBP after two US citizens were killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January as part of an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.
Funding for DHS lapsed in February. Since then, lawmakers have struggled to reach a funding agreement, as Democrats continue to call for changes to federal immigration practices.
“After the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretty, people across the country called for reining in ICE,” Murray said.
“But instead of working with Democrats to enact real reforms, Republicans rejected the most basic accountability measures, and now they are rushing to give billions more dollars to ICE,” he said.
In late March the Senate unanimously passed a package that would defund all of DHS except ICE and Border Patrol, with plans to pursue a budget reconciliation package to defund those two divisions. Budget reconciliation, which is used to pass spending-related matters, requires a simple 50-vote majority in the Senate, while 60 votes are usually needed to overcome a filibuster.
House Republicans nixed that deal and instead passed a stopgap measure to extend funding for all of DHS through May 22.
That proposal then moved to the Senate, where it did not have enough votes to pass, extending the shutdown.
