Sen. Cruz Advocates Long-Term Funding for ICE
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is urging Republicans to secure funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that could last for a decade, and he believes they can achieve this without any Democratic votes.
“It only takes 50 votes to make it happen,” Cruz remarked.
On Friday, senators agreed to increase funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and several other agencies. However, the stalemate regarding ICE funding remains substantial.
Amidst this backdrop, Cruz expressed that Democrats are likely to continue opposing funding for ICE, suggesting that future shutdowns might be inevitable. “I think it’s very likely that Senate Democrats will never vote to fund ICE again and just say, ‘Shut it down,'” he stated.
Funding for ICE, along with the rest of DHS, expired on February 14, after Democrats indicated they would support the agency only if a series of ten operational reforms were enacted. These reforms included restrictions on mask-wearing by ICE agents, stricter warrant requirements for public arrests, limitations on loitering patrols, and clearer identification mandates—changes that Republicans argue would hinder Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts.
Cruz believes Republicans could advance the funding without yielding to those demands through a process called “reconciliation,” which allows them to bypass the filibuster.
“We need 60 votes to pass funding the government. We only have 53 Republicans, so we need at least seven Democrats. Reconciliation—that’s how we passed the bill last year; it was just Republicans,” Cruz added.
Cruz posited that moving forward with funding in this manner would be wise since he anticipates ongoing Democratic opposition. “What I’ve been advocating to my colleagues is, let’s get to reconciliation and let’s fund ICE for the next 10 years, because Democrats are going to vote against funding ICE for the foreseeable future, probably forever,” he commented.
While lawmakers can’t use reconciliation to alter existing policies or introduce new ones, Cruz contended that Republicans could utilize it to enhance ICE’s current provisions, ensuring the agency’s funding remains intact despite potential future shutdowns.
This strategy is not entirely new for Republicans. Last year, they allocated $75 billion to ICE through President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Cruz’s current proposal takes that concept further, estimating a cost of about $100 billion for ten years of base funding starting in 2025 to support ICE and its removal efforts.
Cruz maintains that pushing these spending bills aligns with the mandate the Republicans received following their victory in the 2024 elections.
In his address, he emphasized the strong track record of the Trump administration regarding border security, stating, “The American people said enough is enough. We’ve seen illegal border crossings drop by 99%. We’ve seen the national homicide rate drop by 20%. We’ve seen the national drug overdose rate drop by 20%.” He elaborated, “The fact is that literally thousands of Americans are alive today because President Trump was re-elected and we have a Republican House and Senate.”
Following Senate approval, the non-ICE DHS funding package will proceed to the House for a vote before being sent to the President for his signature.
