Public Assets Institute On April 30th, Congress ended the longest partial government shutdown in history by approving funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The funding excludes appropriations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which accounted for roughly a third of DHS’s budget in Fiscal Year 2024, the last regular DHS funding bill enacted. Since then, Congress has funded the Department through a piecemeal approach, including appropriating $140 billion in supplemental funds for ICE and CBP last summer.
Now more funding for ICE and CBP is expected to proceed separately through reconciliation. Congress has begun this process by passing a budget resolution directing committees to provide up to $140 billion in new, multi-year funding for the two agencies. Despite this cap, lawmakers are expected to approve closer to $70 billion. The Judiciary and Homeland Security committees will determine how to distribute these funds between ICE and CBP before the measure returns to both chambers for another vote.
Since this funding is passed via reconciliation, it only requires approval from a simple majority and can be allocated over ten years. These features make it easier to pass funding without agreeing to ICE reforms, bypassing Democrats’ demands following the death of protestors in Minnesota.
Although federal reforms are now unlikely, the state can still act to implement protections against hostile immigration enforcement, such as prohibiting immigration agents from concealing their identities and restricting places where they can make arrests, such as schools and social service organizations.
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Vermont Business Magazine