House Republicans narrowly approved a sweeping $70 billion immigration enforcement package Tuesday, delivering a major victory for President Donald Trump and ending a months-long funding battle that had triggered a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Secure America Act passed the House in a 214-212 vote, largely along party lines. Rep. Kevin Kiley, an independent who generally aligns with Republicans, joined Democrats in opposing the legislation.
The Senate approved the bill last week. It now heads to Trump’s desk, where the president is expected to sign it into law.
The legislation provides $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection and an additional $5 billion for the Department of Homeland Security. The funding will remain available through September 2029, ensuring that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations are insulated from future spending disputes for the remainder of the president’s term.
House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated the vote as a Republican victory after months of partisan gridlock.
“With today’s vote, House and Senate Republicans have officially ended the third Democrat government shutdown of this Congress.”
Johnson added: “All that Democrats have achieved by their shutdown is a useful reminder to the American people of their support for open borders and keeping criminal illegal immigrants in American communities – policies that have been soundly rejected by the American people over and over again. We hope this episode serves as a future reminder to Democrats that when they shut the government down, they will receive less than nothing in return.”
The funding standoff began in January, when Democrats blocked a broader DHS spending package following the deaths of two U.S. citizens during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The dispute led to a 75-day partial shutdown of the department beginning in mid-February.
Most DHS operations resumed in late April after Democrats agreed to fund the department while withholding money for ICE and CBP. Republicans then advanced a separate long-term package for the two agencies, arguing that immigration enforcement should no longer be vulnerable to shutdown threats.
Democrats opposed the bill, contending that it gives federal immigration authorities too much money with too few restrictions.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the measure would “waste $70 billion in taxpayer money to give a blank check to ICE without any guardrails, any oversight, any accountability.”
Republicans rejected that argument, framing the vote as a test of whether lawmakers support law enforcement and border security.
“Make no mistake, you’re voting yes, you’re not only voting to secure America’s borders, you’re voting to fund law enforcement. You vote no, you are voting to defund the police. Those are the people, the law enforcement officers, risking their lives to keep our community safe,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told his colleagues.
The measure also gives Johnson a significant legislative win as he continues to navigate one of the narrowest House majorities in modern history. Negotiations were complicated by disputes over several unrelated provisions, including an “anti-weaponization” fund sought by the administration and funding for security upgrades connected to a White House ballroom. Those provisions were ultimately removed from the package.
The final vote ends months of uncertainty surrounding ICE and CBP funding while giving Trump the resources to continue carrying out one of the central priorities of his second term.
