On June 10, 2026, President Donald Trump signed the Secure America Act (S.2), the second budget reconciliation bill of his second term. The law puts an end to a budget dispute over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which began following the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
Republicans resorted to the budget reconciliation process, a mechanism that allows certain budget-related bills to pass with a simple majority in the Senate (51 votes), without needing to negotiate with their colleagues in the minority. This enabled Congress to pass a funding package for DHS without including any reforms or additional oversight mechanisms.
What is in the Secure America Act?
The Secure America Act appropriates nearly $70 billion for DHS and its immigration enforcement agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), through September 2029. This ensures funding to implement the Trump administration's immigration agenda for the remainder of its term.
Extraordinary Funding
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What makes this law significant?
The Secure America Act further increases the budget for federal agencies responsible for enforcing immigration laws, making ICE and CBP some of the most heavily funded federal agencies in the U.S. government.
These increases are occurring even though polls indicate that most Americans oppose increased funding for these agencies and disapprove of their actions. By approving additional funding for immigration enforcement, Congress is ignoring the pleas of outraged Americans who are demanding meaningful reforms at DHS and its subordinate agencies.
Furthermore, by bypassing the annual budget appropriations process and approving funding for ICE and CBP through September 2029, Congress is eliminating the opportunity to hold these two agencies accountable.
The annual appropriations process gives members of Congress the opportunity to thoroughly review the performance of federal agencies and determine whether their budgets should be cut or increased for the next fiscal year. With funding approved in H.R. 1 and S. 2, ICE and CBP can continue to operate without regard for individual rights or the rule of law, knowing they are not at risk of budget cuts during the next appropriations cycle.
What does this mean for immigrant communities?
With funding secured through 2029, immigration enforcement agencies have the financial capacity to continue and expand their operations in the coming years. This translates to more:
The law allocates billions of additional dollars to these agencies without incorporating reforms that would strengthen transparency, limit abuses, or ensure that immigration operations respect human rights and due process.
What can we do in this situation?
To ensure that this does not continue to happen, immigrant communities must:
As Congress debates the Homeland Security appropriations bill for fiscal year 2027, which could allocate even more funds to ICE and CBP, it is essential to understand what is at stake and why we oppose funding these agencies.
