See how CT's congressional delegation voted on $70B immigration enforcement mega-bill
Connecticut’s five U.S. representatives, all Democrats, voted Tuesday against a bill providing nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement, which nonetheless passed the House of Representatives and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
The state’s two Democratic senators had previously voted against the Republican-led measure, which cleared the Senate last week.
The bill will provide $38 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, $26 billion for the Border Patrol and $5 billion to cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House. It frontloads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport about 1 million people per year.
Trump, in signing the bill, said the funding will give “the heroes of ICE and border patrol … the support and resources they need to defend our border, protect our homeland and keep America safe.”
In statements, members of Connecticut’s delegation decried the bill for directing funds to immigration enforcement instead of programs that would address the cost-of-living concerns of many Americans.
“After cutting healthcare and food assistance to supercharge ICE with a budget larger than most nations' militaries, Republicans just voted to hand them another $70 billion — without a penny to make life more affordable for working families,” said U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, calling ICE “Donald Trump’s personal army.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, described the bill as “another blank check to ICE with no guardrails and no restrictions,” while U.S. Rep. Jim Himes noted Republicans had already allocated large sums to immigration enforcement in previous bills.
“What did the $140 billion Congressional Republicans gave to ICE and CBP last year get the American people?” said Himes, D-4th District, in a statement. “Renée Good and Alex Pretti murdered in Minneapolis, protestors brutalized by masked agents, children separated from their families, and immigrant communities terrorized across the country.”
U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, and Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, also voted against the measure.
Still, the bill passed the House, 214-212, on Tuesday, days after the Senate approved it, 52-47, almost entirely along party lines. Trump signed it Wednesday during a ceremony at the White House.
Republicans say the money is necessary to fund the strict border enforcement Trump has promised.
“It’s long overdue,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “We have to fund border security and immigration enforcement, and it’s sad that Republicans have to do it on our own.”
Previous versions of the legislation also included more than $1 billion for White House security, including for Trump’s new ballroom, and a $1.8 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies, but those provisions were dropped from the final version.
The immigration package is the result of a monthslong standoff in Congress after Democrats refused to fund the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, where Good and Pretti were shot to death by ICE agents, and other American cities, leading to the longest shutdown in agency history.
After negotiations failed, Republicans turned to a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the Senate filibuster and pass the immigration funding with no Democratic votes.
Immigration enforcement has increased nationwide during Trump’s presidency, including in Connecticut, where arrests and deportations have become more common despite efforts from state lawmakers to limit cooperation between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.