The U.S. Senate unanimously advanced legislation on March 27, approving funding for all components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and some parts of Customs and Border Protection.
The bill to fund the DHS now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote expected on March 27.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters the legislation has “zero reforms” on immigration enforcement policy.
“We’ve been trying for weeks to fund the whole thing,” Thune said. “And, I mean, in the end, this is what they were willing to agree to. But again, it’s different that it has zero reforms in it. I mean, they got no reforms on DHS, which they could have had if they had been willing to work with us a little bit on that.”
Senate Minority Leader (D-N.Y.) said the deal could have been reached weeks ago, and vowed that his party would continue fighting to ensure Trump’s immigration enforcement operation “does not get more funding without serious reform.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
