AILA: DHS Funding Restored, But Accountability Still Missing

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) issued the following statement from Executive Director Ben Johnson after Congress acted to restore funding for most Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies following a 76 day lapse:

"Public safety and the rule of law are not competing values; they rise or fall together. This funding lapse should never have happened. For more than two months, hardworking DHS employees were often forced to work without pay; critical public safety and preparedness efforts were delayed, and communities across the country paid the price for political gridlock. "While today's action restores funding for much of DHS through the end of the fiscal year, it does not resolve the deeper policy failures that led to this shutdown or address the repeated, documented abuses within immigration enforcement that sparked this crisis. Keeping additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol enforcement funding out of this bill is a necessary response to DHS leadership's refusal to acknowledge basic legal constraints such as judicial warrants, transparency, and consequences for unlawful arrests. No law enforcement agency should be funded without being required to follow the Constitution and the law. "ICE and Border Patrol have made their position clear: they will defy courts, ignore the Constitution, and endanger Americans to chase ideological quotas. As this debate continues, lawmakers who prioritize public safety and the rule of law over political expediency and loyalty must fight for binding reforms, including judicial warrants, transparency, and consequences for unlawful arrests. Anything less means immigration enforcement will remain the one corner of law enforcement that doesn't have to follow the law, and that is unacceptable."