Trump's deportation agenda is about to get a $70B infusion from Congress

By — Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-deportation-agenda-is-about-to-get-a-70b-infusion-from-congress Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Trump's deportation agenda is about to get a $70B infusion from Congress Politics Jun 5, 2026 4:12 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — With virtually no strings attached, Congress is on the verge of providing a sizable infusion of cash to the Department of Homeland Security, powering President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda for the remainder of his term in the White House. WATCH: Senate approves $70B immigration bill, rejects efforts to permanently ban 'anti-weaponization fund' The nearly $70 billion package, which cleared the Republican-held Senate in a middle of the night vote and now heads to the House, was declared a "rotten bill" by the Democratic leader and an "ATM for ICE" by pro-immigrant advocates. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. But for those aligned with Trump's campaign promise for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, it all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of money to carry out the administration's immigration enforcement operations — and comes on top of some $170 billion Congress already approved for the department last summer, as part of Trump's big tax breaks bill. WATCH: Democrats rally at Capitol against GOP's immigration enforcement funding bill "We're going to continue to arrest people, we're going to continue to detain people and we're going to keep deporting people," Trump border czar Tom Homan told CBS News on Friday. He hinted at summer sweeps of enforcement actions coming next to New York City. More money, fewer guardrails The work of Congress comes at a pivotal time for the Republican president and his party as they face restless voters before the midterm elections. About one in three U.S. adults know someone who has been impacted by Trump's immigration operations, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. And as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, most say it's no longer a great place for immigrants. The funding package from Congress is just a slim dozen-page bill that carries none of the usual guardrails or directives typically demanded in legislation. It turns loose $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, nearly $20 billion for the Border Patrol, and others, prepaying the department's operations into 2029. "Their options are limitless in terms of what they can do with this money," said Vanessa Cardenas, the executive director at America's Voice, a longtime advocacy organization for immigrants. "That is such a hard thing to accept as a taxpaying citizen that our dollars are going to this massive, mass deportation machine, while Americans are struggling to meet health care costs, and have acc