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The House Republicans approved a short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this Friday with 213 votes in favor and 203 against, a measure that Senate Democrats have already deemed unfeasible before Congress went on recess.
According to Telemundo, the vote took place hours after the Senate unanimously approved its own bill, which would fund the DHS until September 30 but excluded funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
The president of the Chamber, Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, rejected the Senate's proposal and called it "a joke."
Johnson assured that President Donald Trump understands exactly what they are doing and why, thereby supporting the House's position on the text approved by the Senate.
This stalemate has persisted since February 14, when the DHS entered a partial shutdown that has affected the operations of multiple federal agencies related to border security and aviation.
Among the most visible consequences of the closure, the absenteeism in the TSA reached 11.76% nationwide, resulting in long lines and chaos at airports across the country.
In response to the crisis, Trump signed an executive order to pay the employees of DHS who continue to work without compensation during the shutdown, and it was reported that paychecks would arrive on Monday, March 30 for the affected workers.
In January, several Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. Congress pushed for an initiative to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and establish a new agency that would fall under the Department of Justice.
Congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, led the effort and ensured that his caucus would vote against the funds allocated to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), stating that “the ICE budget is literally going to triple.”
Khanna reported that the new budget plan added $18 billion annually for four years to the agency's usual resources, which already amount to about $10 billion per year.
"We need to vote to cut ICE's funding. Frankly, we need to dismantle ICE and establish a new federal agency under the Department of Justice. It is unacceptable for any Democrat to vote for this bloated budget,” he asserted.
The legislator argued that the Democratic opposition is growing in response to the increase in size and power of ICE, which now has around 22,000 agents after hiring 12,000 new officials, a 120% increase
This growth is due to the law signed last year by President Donald Trump, which made the agency the largest security organization in the country, with an estimated budget of $75 billion, surpassing that of many armies around the world.
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