Duckworth, Durbin Unveil How $70 Billion Could Help Illinoisans After Trump Signs Disastrous Bill to Bankroll ICE and Border Patrol

Duckworth, Durbin Unveil How $70 Billion Could Help Illinoisans After Trump Signs Disastrous Bill to Bankroll ICE and Border Patrol

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - After Donald Trump signed a bill that gifts $70 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today highlighted a list of ways this money could be used to lower costs and improve lives of Illinoisans instead. Duckworth and Durbin have repeatedly opposed any more funding for ICE and Border Patrol in their push for commonsense reforms, guardrails and protections for the American people. Trump's agents have terrorized communities throughout Illinois, including shooting Marimar Martinez-a proud Chicagoan and U.S. citizen-five times in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood in October and then falsely branding her as a domestic terrorist by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"Trump claims we can't afford daycare and healthcare for families but has no problem signing a $70 billion blank check-on top of the $100 billion already included in his Big, Ugly Bill-for his lawless agents who killed two Americans in broad daylight," Duckworth said. "There are an infinite number of ways we could be working to help Illinoisans get by, and it's despicable that Trump would rather bankroll ICE and Border Patrol's reign of terror than keep his promise and lower costs for the middle class."

"Somehow, congressional Republicans were able to scrounge up $70 billion to fund the President's mass deportation campaign, but they could not scrape together any money to help Illinoisans afford their groceries, gas, or health care as prices skyrocket. We need policies that address the reality of what struggling American families are facing on a day-to-day basis," Durbin said.

Instead of handing ICE and Border Patrol another blank check, $70 billion could:

• Cover federal funding of Medicaid for the next 3 years for the 3.5 million Illinoisans who rely on the program.
• Fully cover SNAP for nearly 2 million Illinois recipients for the next 14 years.
• Provide free infant care for every baby in Illinois for the next 10 years.
• Cover the average price of groceries for every household in Illinois for nearly 2 years.
• Extend the ACA's enhanced premium tax credit for the next 27 years for the 400,000 Illinoisans who relied on it.
• Help over 241,000 residents buy a home at the average cost in Illinois.
• Provide free school lunches for over 1 million Illinois students in 484 Illinois school districts for the next 84 years.
• Cover the average yearly social security payment for 3 million Illinoisans.
• Fund Illinois' six-year infrastructure program and still have $20 billion left over.
• Replace all the lead pipes in Illinois 7 times.
• Renovate O'Hare International Airport 5 times.
• Prevent every rural hospital in Illinois from closing by stabilizing operating margins.
• End the shortage of primary care doctors, dentists, and mental health providers in Illinois and the rest of the country for a decade.

-30-