Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I begin by thanking Ranking Member Cuellar for his work on this bill. He is a tough negotiator, and this bill is better for his efforts.

I also thank the committee staff. In particular, Shannon McCully, Jamie Wise, and Jim Ellsworth. They spent many long hours and a lot of sleepless nights fighting to make this bill as good as it could be.

The Homeland Security funding bill before us today has gotten a lot of attention over the past few days, and rightfully so. It deals with funding ICE, an agency that has shown itself to be lawless, vindictive, aggressive, cruel, and, thus far, unaccountable both to Congress and the American people.

That is not all that the Homeland Security bill deals with, however. Before I return to the topic of ICE and its funding, I will share some of what else is contained in this bill.

This bill rejects President Trump and Secretary Noem's attempts to eliminate FEMA, increasing funding for the agency by over $870 million, in addition to providing more than $26 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund. It increases funding for TSA by $149 million and provides a pay raise for air traffic controllers and uniformed members of the United States Coast Guard.

This is important funding, and I am glad that these provisions which we fought for were included in the bill. The final product, though far from perfect, is better because of it.

Despite these inclusions and others, it is impossible to ignore the impact that ICE's conduct had on completing this bill. ICE has operated with brutality, terrorizing our constituents, abducting our neighbors, and violently assaulting lawful residents who have done nothing but had the misfortune of crossing ICE's path on their way home from work.

Unfortunately, this month, we saw how this unchecked lawlessness can have fatal consequences with the killing of Renee Nicole Good.

This is a rogue agency. Substantial constraints must be placed on it. During negotiations, we proposed such constraints, but our Republican colleagues refused to include almost all of them.

We sought to prevent any funds from being used to detain or deport U.S. citizens, a commonsense measure. They refused to commit to that.

We proposed prohibiting interior enforcement by non-ICE personnel, like the Border Patrol. That was rejected, as well.

We put forward a provision to ensure that Members of Congress can continue to conduct our lawful oversight of all ICE facilities, uninhibited. That, too, was deemed unacceptable.

Democrats did win some battles in this bill, however. Under this bill, we reduce ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations budget by $115 million. We reduce their detention capacity, providing funding that could only be used for body-worn cameras. We increase funding for the Office of Inspector General, specifically for oversight of ICE detention facilities.

These are good provisions. I am glad they are in this bill, but it is clear that more must be done. ICE believes it can act with impunity, and it is behaving accordingly.

I trust that my colleagues have taken the time to review what is contained in this bill and have determined for themselves what is best for their constituents and communities. I have made my own determination, and that determination leads me to a ``no'' vote on this bill.

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Ms. DeLAURO.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Clark), the distinguished Democratic whip.

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Ms. DeLAURO. McCollum), the distinguished ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Lois Frankel), the distinguished ranking member of the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee.

Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this Homeland Security funding bill.

We cannot continue to fund an agency that ignores the Constitution, abandons due process, interrupts businesses, and traumatizes families.

Across the country, ICE enforcement is no longer about public safety. It has become a campaign of cruelty and fear. Families are being torn apart with no warning and no plan. Children are afraid to go to school. Homes are being entered without warrants. Workers are being dragged off of jobsites by their hair. People are being abducted when shopping for groceries, going to church, or taking their kids to school. Peaceful citizens are being pepper-sprayed and shot in cold blood for daring to speak up.

When Members of Congress try to conduct oversight, we are blocked. We are denied access. We are told to look the other way.

This is not law enforcement.

This is not accountability.

That is not who we are as a country.

This bill writes a check for an agency that is violating basic rights while refusing basic oversight. It pours money into detention and enforcement without guardrails, without transportation, and without respect for human dignity.

I want to be clear. Security does not require cruelty. Enforcement does not require lawlessness, and immigration policy should never require us to abandon our values.

Yes, we need border security and an orderly immigration system, but we can secure our borders and uphold due process and enforce the law and protect families. This bill does neither, and until the Trump administration ends these abuses, restores transparency, and respects the Constitution, I cannot and will not support funding that enables this harm.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Escobar), who is a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, as I said in my opening, this is a bill that has gotten so much attention over the past few days, and I think that that is the reality of where we are.

I have watched this bill over the years, and it has always been a struggle to deal with the Homeland Security bill. I thought that we were really on track to be able, this time around, to make some significant progress in the Homeland Security bill, and we were on track to do that.

However, then we watched unfold an unspeakable tragedy in Minnesota: the unspeakable loss of a young woman who was killed.

We have heard from my colleagues from Minnesota not just about the killing of Renee Nicole Good, but of the other unspeakable transgressions by an agency that has made a determination that they are not accountable to anyone, to no law, no rule of law, and even no higher calling of understanding how you treat human beings.

They have run roughshod over United States citizens. No one here believes that criminals in this Nation shouldn't be deported or that they shouldn't face the legal system that we have because the strength of the United States is that we are a nation of laws; that we abide by the rule of law. This agency is defying this at every step of the way, every day, with the sanctioning of the President of the United States saying that we are going to work to increase the pain, that we are going to detain and potentially deport United States citizens.

We asked for some simple reforms: Don't deport United States citizens. Require the training and hiring of personnel that are competent and capable for this job.

Do you know that training has gone from 5 to 8 months to 6 to 8 weeks? The sensitivity around this issue has been broken, and the trust of the American people and the people of Minnesota has been broken. Children are frightened. Families are frightened. There is no need for that in this country.

We need to have the rule of law reinstated. We can't have masked, armed people on the street pulling over anyone that they choose to based on the color of their skin or how they look.

I said this in the Rules Committee when I testified. I actually have two grandsons who are adopted. I have one from Guatemala. Yes, he is brown-skinned, but he is a citizen. He lives in Los Angeles. I find myself telling him, ``Make sure you carry your passport,'' because it scares me that, because of his brown skin, he can be pulled aside, detained, and deported. He is a United States citizen.

My other grandson's parentage is Uzbekistan, but he is a United States citizen. He is a youngster, and he could be snatched up and separated from us.

This is the United States of America. We have watched and focused on Iran. We watched the SAVAK in Iran take people off the street, detain them, kill them, and never heard from them again. We are not going down that road. We cannot go down that road. The Congress cannot take us down that road.

I was hopeful, as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee--and my colleague and the chair knows this--to get what we need to get done, and we were on the road. We were on a good track, but we have to face the circumstances.

We have to deal with the environment. We have to deal with what has happened in this country. We cannot turn a blind eye. We cannot say let's overlook it because if we overlook it, it will not get better. It is our responsibility now to make it better so that we can turn this around and make this agency work.

I am not for abolishing ICE. There will be a lot of people who are going to be unhappy with my saying that, but so be it. We need to reform it. We need to turn it around. We need to make it work on behalf of the American people, not make it the fear that a KGB, a SAVAK, or other agencies have had in other countries that we oppose. We can't go down the road of making that who we are. It is our responsibility. It is our responsibility.

I have said to my colleagues over and over again: Make the decision based on where your heart is and what you believe in. This is a moment and a vote that says you have to determine what you believe is the right thing to do, and that is the basis on which to do it. I have made that decision, and the right thing for me to do is to vote ``no'' on this bill.

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