Foster Statement on DHS Funding Vote

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) issued the following statement:

"As I have said throughout this DHS shutdown, I will vote NO on any funding for ICE that does not include serious reforms.

"After Operation Midway Blitz and the killing of two Americans in Minneapolis, it is clear that ICE is poorly trained and unaccountable. Republicans have had every opportunity to govern rationally by funding DHS while reining in ICE agents' unchecked power.

"Meanwhile, there are hours-long lines at airports and gaps in our national security because Republicans in the House and Senate can't agree on what they want to do. The Republican-controlled Senate unanimously passed a deal that would have funded TSA while allowing negotiations to continue to reform ICE and Customs and Border Protection-but House Republicans rejected their own party's bill and skipped town without doing their jobs. Now everything is back to square one.

"Finally, when faced with this embarrassing Republican infighting, Trump decided to tap into one of the multi-billion-dollar slush funds from his Big Beautiful Bill to at least get TSA agents paid-something that he could have done weeks ago and spared everybody this pain. But inflicting unnecessary pain, it seems, has always been the point of his immigration policies."

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