Senate passes $70 billion ICE and border patrol bill, overcoming internal GOP rebellion over DOJ fund

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 06/08/2026

*Senate voted early Friday to pass a massive $70 billion immigration enforcement package.*

Senate Republicans overcame deep internal divisions to pass a massive $70 billion immigration enforcement package early Friday, delivering a major political win to President Donald Trump after weeks of struggling to pass the bill.

The bill – which funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol through the rest of Trump’s term, protecting the agencies from future government shutdown fights – now goes to the House for final passage after a marathon 18-hour voting session in which only one Republican voted against it. It passed by a vote of 52-47.

In another win for Trump, Republicans ultimately approved the bill without killing the $1.8 billion Justice Department fund he had supported to compensate people who claim to have been victimized by the federal government. But GOP senators still endured hours of painful political votes, in which they repeatedly rejected efforts to formally kill the fund.

The immigration bill, which some Republicans predict could be Trump’s last major legislative victory before the midterms, had been stalled for weeks amid GOP controversy over the fund. Critics say it would serve as a slush fund for Trump allies and could grant payouts to rioters who attacked police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Multiple Republicans – including lawmakers facing tough reelection races in November – voted in favor of formally blocking the fund, highlighting concern within the party over it.

In the end, however, the wider funding measure passed with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska as the only Republican who voted against it.

The Trump administration had sought to convince Congress that the “anti-weaponization” fund was dead so Republicans would pass the stalled bill. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers earlier in the week that the administration is “not moving forward with the fund, period.”

Trump, though, has been far less clear, defending the fund on Wednesday and refusing to commit to scrapping it permanently.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know,” Trump told CNN Wednesday on whether the fund is fully dead or just on hold. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a beautiful thing.”

Meanwhile, in a separate procedural vote early Friday, seven Senate Republicans and nearly all Democrats voted to block consideration of a contentious bill to reauthorize the nation’s spy powers, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Democrats had said they would not support moving ahead with FISA after Trump appointed Bill Pulte — a housing official with no demonstrated national security experience — to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

To read the full article, go to CNN

By Sarah Ferris, Ted Barrett, Lauren Fox, Manu Raju on June 5, 2026