The American Senate approved on Friday June 5 a budgetary text of nearly 70 billion dollars (around 60 billion euros) for the fight against immigration, after a legislative marathon which highlighted the growing unease of several Republican senators with certain projects of Donald Trump.
The bill, adopted with 52 votes for and 47 against, comes after several months of controversy surrounding the practices of the immigration police (ICE) and the border police (CBP). Democrats have been demanding major reforms for these two agencies since the deaths in Minneapolis in January of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two Americans killed by federal agents on the sidelines of protests against ICE operations in this northern US city.
The opposition of elected Democratic officials even led the Department of Homeland Security to a record budgetary paralysis of more than 70 days, between February and March.
Malaise
The text approved by the senators provides nearly $70 billion over three years to finance ICE and the CBP, without these reforms requested by the opposition. It must now be adopted by the House of Representatives – probably next week – before promulgation by Donald Trump.
If there is a general consensus on the right on the financing of the fight against immigration, the adoption in the Senate was not without turmoil. A series of amendments, proposed in turn by Democrats and certain Republicans, saw several senators from the majority go against Donald Trump’s demands. Six Republican senators voted for an amendment intended to prohibit the use of public funds to build a ballroom at the White House, ardently desired by Donald Trump.
