No funding for ICE or Ballrooms

Republicans in Congress want to give ICE and Border Patrol over $70 BILLION more to fund their concentration camps and militarized deployments to US cities. 

Democrats have been very successful in holding the line on additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol, and kept funding for the Department of Homeland Security out of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, in February, which funded the remainder of the government.  At the end of April, Democratic members of Congress  even kept funding for these two agencies out of the funding bill passed to fund the other activities of Homeland Security, such as Transit Security Administration services at airports.

Now Republicans want to fund ICE and Border Patrol  through what’s called a reconciliation bill, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate. On top of all this, the bill  includes $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” for Trump’s ballroom.  The same ballroom that he originally said would cost $200 million (increased to $400 million) and which would definitely be paid for by him and his friends, at no cost to the taxpayer.  So, the total cost for the ballroom would be almost $1.5 billion, paid for mostly by you.

The funds in this bill would be available through 2029, so they would not have to worry about passing any more bills for ICE and CBP funding through the end of Trump’s term in office.

Our Call to Action: 

Urge our U.S House representatives and Senators Klobuchar and Smith to use every tool at their disposal to fight any budget reconciliation bill that will shovel more taxpayer dollars to ICE and Border Patrol and will spend money on a ballroom when we need health care and housing.  

Contact Info: 

1. U.S. Senator Tina Smith: DC Office Phone: (202) 224-5641 MN Office Phone: (651) 221-1016

Email form: https://www.smith.senate.gov/share-your-opinion/

2. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar: DC Office Phone: ( 202) 224-3244 DC Office Fax: (202) 228-2186 MN Office Phone: (612) 727-5220

Email form: https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-amy

Your Federal House Representative Find your US House of Representative here: Who Represents Me?

Or use democracy.io to send an email to all at the same time.

Sample Message (voice or email):  

I am a constituent from (your address) [Optional: and a member of Indivisible Twin Cities].  You should mount a fierce campaign against the reconciliation bill. Do whatever it takes.  No funding for ICE or Border Patrol.  And no funding for ballrooms. 

Add a statement about why this matters to you:  

• Did you experience or witness ICE abuses?  

• Did you have friends or neighbors or colleagues detained or deported by ICE? 

• Did you see impact on community businesses, you frequent?

Want to do more?

·        Sign up for Indivisible's phonebank to call voters in red districts and help mobilize them to oppose this bill. 

·        Use Indivisible's toolkit to organize a district office visit or visibility action in your community. 

Resources:

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:  CBO Scores FY 2026 Reconciliation at $72 Billion