Senate Republicans pass budget plan for ICE, Border Patrol funding

LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution early Thursday to fund immigration enforcement agencies, advancing a plan that would provide between $70 billion and $140 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol through President Donald Trump's term, according to reporting from the Kentucky Lantern.

The 50-48 vote marked the first major step in a partisan budget reconciliation process designed to bypass Democratic opposition. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul joined Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski as the only Republicans voting against the measure after criticizing the spending plan.

Paul objected on fiscal grounds, arguing Senate Republicans should not approve an additional $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol while the agencies still have more than $100 billion in unobligated funding from last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. "Congress ought to fund border security but we should be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars," Paul said on the Senate floor.

The late-night voting marathon, which stretched from Wednesday evening into early Thursday morning, also featured debates over other policy disputes. Democrats pushed 12 amendments highlighting cost-of-living concerns and stalled federal disaster relief dollars for states.

California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff raised particular concern about frozen FEMA funding during the floor debate, noting that Kentucky saw landslides and flooding weeks after other disasters hit the nation. The Senate ultimately rejected his amendment to address the stalled disaster assistance.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the resolution now heads to the House, where GOP leadership plans to adopt it without changes to avoid delays. The budget reconciliation process allows Republicans to bypass the 60-vote threshold typically required in the Senate and pass immigration funding with a simple majority.

The measure also marked disagreement among Kentucky Republicans. Sen. Mitch McConnell joined Collins, Murkowski and Tillis in voting against an amendment from Sen. John Kennedy to add election provisions to the package, defecting with Democrats on the motion to proceed.

The resolution was designed to unlock funding for ICE and Border Patrol separately from a bipartisan deal already passed by the Senate to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. That department has been partially shut down since mid-February after Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed bill that included immigration enforcement funding without reforms following deadly January shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis.