US President Donald Trump holds up the Secure America Act after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC, US.
Ivan Vucchi | reuters
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies through the end of his term.
A package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection passed Congress last week after months of debate and delays amid Democratic concerns about overly aggressive immigration enforcement.
At a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said the bill would give “the heroes of ICE and the Border Patrol … the support and resources they need to secure our borders, protect our homeland, and keep America safe.”
Democrats have refused to defund two sub-agencies of the Department of Homeland Security since January, when two US citizens died at the hands of federal agents in response to an immigration surge in Minneapolis.
In response to Democratic opposition, Republicans adopted a congressional process known as budget reconciliation, which allows party-line passage of controversial spending and budgetary measures with a simple majority in the Senate, whereas overcoming the filibuster typically requires 60 votes.
The Senate advanced the immigration funding package on Friday by a 52-47 vote, but no Democrats voted in favor of it. The House approved the package 214-212 on Tuesday, also without any Democratic support.
“Despite Democrat efforts to shut down ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans have now fully funded these agencies by nearly $70 billion during President Trump’s entire second term,” Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who leads the Senate budget panel, said in a statement Tuesday. “Thanks to President Trump, our border has gone from its weakest point to its most secure point in less than two years.”
Trump had originally called for the package to be delivered to his desk by June 1, but progress was derailed after he announced a $1.8 billion “anti-weapons” fund last month that was rejected by congressional Democrats and Republicans alike.
Despite their obvious frustrations, most Republicans voted last week against a Democratic measure that would have rescinded the fund.
Meanwhile, less than a week after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said plans for the fund were scrapped, Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he would prefer to move the fund forward.
