WATCH: Padilla Slams $140 Billion Funding Bill for ICE and CBP

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, took to the Senate floor to slam Senate Republicans' efforts to provide an additional $140 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) - agencies already funded for years - with no new accountability measures or guardrails.

"If we're going to use the budget reconciliation process for anything right now, we ought to be using it to help working families afford the basics. Let's use it to help bring down health care costs. Let's help bring down gas prices. Let's bring down the cost of food, housing, and utilities," Senator Padilla said. "But let's not pretend that out-of-control immigration agencies actually need $140 billion more dollars when they still have over $100 billion just sitting there from last year's Big Ugly Bill. Democrats refuse to give a single dollar more to an out of control, unaccountable agency. We are demanding oversight and commonsense reforms not just to protect people's rights, but to protect people's lives," he said.

Senator Padilla has consistently voted against funding ICE and CBP's lawless and reckless actions under President Trump. He has been a leading voice in opposition to President Trump's cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda, including against his unprecedented, illegal militarization of Los Angeles and other American cities like Minneapolis. In January, Padilla spoke on the Senate floor to hold the line against any additional funding for President Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the brutal killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and CBP officers and agents. Additionally, Padilla joined leading immigration advocates and interfaith leaders at an "ICE Out for Good" rally and vigil to condemn the Trump Administration's abuses against American communities and to demand ICE and CBP leave Minnesota after Good's killing. At a bicameral spotlight forum last month, Padilla denounced DHS agents' violent tactics and disproportionate use of force, including against U.S. citizens, as they enact President Trump's mass deportation agenda in American cities.

Last year, Senators Padilla and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act to allow individuals - regardless of citizenship - the right to sue federal law enforcement officers and agencies in civil court for violations of their civil and constitutional rights. Last July, Padilla and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced the VISIBLE Act to require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible identification during public-facing enforcement actions.

Video of Padilla's full remarks is available here.