Senate GOP Passes Immigration Enforcement Bill

Senate Republicans passed their $70 billion immigration enforcement bill Friday, beating back several attempts to rein in the Justice Department’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Senators voted 52-47 on the bill after roughly 18 hours of amendment votes. In the end, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican to vote against the bill — she had previously voted against the budget blueprint for the immigration enforcement plan and had raised concerns that it circumvented the appropriations process.

The House left town Thursday rather than stay and pass it before leaving for the weekend. Now it won’t go to President Donald Trump until early next week — pushing the GOP even further past Trump’s self-imposed June 1 deadline.

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Republicans ultimately decided to go it alone in funding the immigration enforcement activities within the Department of Homeland Security through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process — after they were unable to get a deal with Democrats linking the money to new guardrails on ICE and Border Patrol after federal agents killed two people in Minneapolis in January.

The bill would provide roughly $38.5 billion for ICE and more than $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, as well as an additional $5 billion that will be dispersed at the discretion of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

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