The American House of Representatives approved on Tuesday June 9 a budget text of nearly $70 billion for the fight against immigration, one of Donald Trump’s priorities.
The bill, already adopted by the Senate last week, provides – over the next three years – around 38 billion dollars for the immigration police (ICE), around 26 billion for the border police (CBP) and some 5 billion additional for unforeseen costs. Enough to ensure the financing of the massive eviction program decided by the government of Donald Trump. Especially since these funds are added to the nearly 140 billion dollars already approved last year by Congress, with a Republican majority, for the fight against immigration.
The Trump administration is facing pressure from supporters of a tougher line against immigration, who regret that the authorities have failed to meet the goal of one million annual deportations. Tom Homan, one of the architects of this expulsion program within the government, promised Tuesday an acceleration of operations, particularly in New York, a city voting largely for the Democrats.
“Blank check”
After the vote, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, welcomed in a statement the fact that “Democrats will be unable to defund” ICE and CBP for the next few years.
The budget text must now be sent to the White House for promulgation by the president. Its adoption comes after several months of controversy surrounding the practices of ICE and 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. “We believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for Americans, not to give another $70 billion blank check to ICE,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday.
In February, due to opposition already from elected Democrats, the Department of Homeland Security suffered a record budgetary paralysis of more than 70 days. They called for more restrictions on how ICE operates, including the systematic wearing of a pedestrian camera for its agents.
No public funds allocated for the ballroom
The text approved on Tuesday ultimately does not include these reforms requested by the opposition. Several measures wanted by Donald Trump are also not included in the bill – notably a billion dollars required for the construction of a ballroom at the White House. The request for public funds had embarrassed many Republican elected officials, reluctant to finance such a luxurious project with public funds.
Also gone is an “anti-instrumentalization” fund of nearly $1.8 billion supposed to compensate those whom the Trump administration presents as victims of the judicial system. The Democratic opposition denounced it as a “slush fund” likely to benefit Donald Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Several Republican elected officials had also expressed their rejection of this initiative.
Faced with this internal resistance, the interim Minister of Justice, Todd Blanche, announced on Tuesday that he would not include this project in the text before Congress.
