Here's the reply I got from my Senator, Tammy Duckworth about ICE/DHS funding.
Thank you for contacting me about fiscal year 2026 (FY26) funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As your Senator, I am strongly opposed to funding these agencies’ disturbing, dystopian and violent immigration enforcement tactics and am horrified by the brutality ICE and U.S. Border Patrol are inflicting on U.S. citizens, visa holders, authorized immigrants and undocumented individuals, alike. That is why I strongly opposed and voted against creating a $75 billion ICE slush fund, and why I voted against extending ICE and CBP funding through February 13, 2026. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me on this important matter.
At the direction of President Donald Trump, ICE officers and Border Patrol agents have killed mothers and fathers in cold blood, indiscriminately tear gassed infants and dragged innocent civilians from their cars and homes, all to carry out an oppressive, wasteful and violent mass deportation campaign that targets non-violent undocumented immigrants—including Veterans, military family members and children—that have no criminal record and are simply trying to earn a living to support their families. Millions of detained individuals who are callously referred to as “illegal aliens” entered our country legally, meaning a sizable portion of these so-called “illegal” immigrants, contrary to popular belief, have never even committed a single Federal, State or local crime, felony or misdemeanor.
The tragic, unjustified and extrajudicial killings of Ms. Renee Good and Mr. Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, just three weeks apart, were not isolated accidents. These deaths at the hands of ICE and Border Patrol were the direct result of a deeply disturbing and dangerous culture of violence that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, Border Patrol employee Gregory Bovino and others encouraged and rewarded under the direction of President Trump. It is outrageous that billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted to pay for heavily armed, masked and unidentified Federal agents to terrorize American communities in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, and now Minneapolis. I have fought this spreading campaign of terror and lawlessness to stop President Trump from flooding more and more American communities with thousands of masked thugs that are poorly trained, aggressively violent and a clear and present danger to U.S. citizens, permanent legal residents, authorized immigrants and undocumented individuals, alike.
I strongly opposed and voted against Republicans’ debt-exploding, monstrosity of a reconciliation bill that handed ICE and CBP over $70 billion each to intensify and expand their extremely wasteful, unfocused and deadly operations until 2029. Despite enacting the largest Medicaid cut in history, totaling nearly $1 trillion, President Trump’s big ugly bill contained so many indefensible tax loopholes and giveaways for billionaires and multinational corporations, that it is estimated to increase our national debt by at least $4 trillion. Since Congressional Republicans and President Trump shamefully jammed through their ridiculously titled, “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in July 2025, I have pushed Congress to redirect ICE and CBP’s bloated slush funds towards services that actually protect the health and safety of Illinoisians, particularly children. That is why I led the charge to use ICE’s slush fund money to fund lead service line replacement and anti-pollution programs. It is also why I strongly supported and voted for my Senate colleague’s amendment to eliminate the ICE slush fund and invest all of the money back into Medicaid, which will soon be devasted by the looming nearly $1 trillion cut that President Trump demanded Republicans pass.
Following the shooting of Ms. Good in Minneapolis, I made clear that I would not support any appropriations legislation authorizing even more FY26 funding for ICE and Border Patrol. That is why I voted against H.R. 7148, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, the vehicle for the remaining FY26 appropriations bills that included a short-term continuing resolution that funded DHS at previous levels through February 13, 2026. I have no confidence that the Trump administration. It has repeatedly lied to the American people, and lied in Federal courts, about the violence committed by its masked Federal agents, which includes fatally shooting Americans in broad daylight, and DHS continues to illegally arrest Americans for exercising core First Amendment rights, including filming law enforcement in public. Simply put, I do not believe DHS will use funding to bolster public safety. That is why I have, and will continue, strongly opposing authorizing even a single additional dollar for ICE and CBP without enactment of strong and enforceable restrictions, safeguards and accountability provisions. Congress must end President Trump’s reckless and deadly immigration enforcement operations.
It is imperative that the Trump administration be held accountable for its use of unwarranted and deadly force against civilians on the American taxpayer’s dime. Since 2025, I have repeatedly demanded that DHS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs) deploy a joint task force to independently investigate all Federal use of force incidents during surge immigration enforcement operations—a request the OIGs shamefully denied just days before Alex Pretti was killed—and have called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to refer individual agents responsible for constitutional rights violations for Federal prosecution. Alarmed by the OIGs’ apparent lack of action and DOJ’s stunning attempts to shield Federal agents from accountability and instead defame Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good’s widow, I met with DHS IG Cuffari to press him to immediately investigate these use-of-force incidents. If IG Cuffari is as serious about the need for independent investigations as he told me he is, then he must put his words into action.
As your Senator, I am disgusted that ICE and Border Patrol continue to trample the United States Constitution with defiant impunity. DHS has defied my and my colleagues' demands that it reign in its agents for months—including by refusing to answer or heed my simple requests that CBP ensure its agents comply with a Federal court order to wear and activate body-worn cameras and my calls for Federal agents restrain from immigration enforcement within 1,000 feet of school property. Recent use of force incidents only underscore that DHS cannot be trusted to end its out-of-control tactics without enforceable legislation. Please be assured that I strongly oppose funding for ICE officers and Border Patrol agents’ lawlessness and will do everything in my power to stop DHS from terrorizing American communities and hold it accountable for its unlawful actions.
Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. If you would like more information on my work in the Senate, please visit my website at www.duckworth.senate.gov. You can access my voting record and see what I am doing to address today’s most important issues. I hope that you will continue to share your views with me and let me know whenever I may be of assistance to you.
Sincerely,
Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator
