The president Donald Trump signed in the Oval Office the Secure America Act, a package of approximately 70 billion dollars to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), particularly the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol, until the end of his term in 2029.
"This morning, I am pleased to sign the Secure America Act to immediately and fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of my term," Trump stated during the ceremony, surrounded by Republican officials and lawmakers.
Distribution of funds
The law allocates 38 billion dollars to ICE and 26 billion to the Border Patrol, with an additional nearly 5 billion for unforeseen expenses.
Trump specified the scope of the measure: "The Secure America Act allocates $38 billion to ICE and $26 billion to the Border Patrol to ensure that these agencies have the necessary resources to protect our borders and remove criminal foreigners from the country," according to the official White House account.
To gauge the impact: according to data from the Congressional Research Service, ICE's annual budget had historically remained below $10 billion. The new law triples that figure.
A rocky legislative path
The approval comes after months of standoff.
The conflict dates back to January 2026, when two American citizens died during ICE operations in Minneapolis, which led the Democrats to block any funding for those agencies.
On February 14, the DHS entered a partial shutdown as its funding expired, marking the longest shutdown in the agency's history: 75 days.
The package was on the verge of collapse due to Republican opposition to a $1.8 billion fund from the Department of Justice—known as "anti-instrumentalization"—which was ultimately discarded, along with an allocation of nearly $1 billion for enhancements to the White House, including $200 million for a ballroom in the East Wing.
The Senate approved the package last Thursday with 52 votes in favor and 47 against. The House approved it on Tuesday by a very narrow margin of 214 to 212, in a strictly partisan vote, according to Telemundo.
Trump lashes out at the Democrats
During the ceremony, Trump did not hold back his criticisms.
“For more than 100 days, Congressional Democrats tried to block all funding for the DHS in a reprehensible attempt to open the borders. They want to drag us back into chaos and crime... and we will not allow it,” stated.
The Republican representative Tom McClintock (California) celebrated the approval: "This bill breaks the Democrats' suffocating control over the funding of ICE and CBP," as reported by CNN.
La oposición demócrata
The leader of the Democratic caucus, Katherine Clark (Massachusetts), argued that it was inconsistent to allocate more funds to ICE when "60% of American families are struggling to afford the basics."
Representative Morgan McGarvey (Kentucky) was more direct: "With $70 billion, we could end homelessness in the United States. Almost anything would be better than giving it to ICE."
Implications for Cubans
The agreement has direct consequences for the Cuban community. In the first five months of 2026, the United States deported 612 Cubans in 18 operations, and more than 4,353 were deported to Mexico between January 2025 and March 2026, according to Human Rights Watch.
With funding secured until 2029, the border czar Tom Homan has stated that "millions" of deportations are needed to "restore" the United States and that 2026 will be "a good year" for those operations.
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