The United States Senate voted by unanimous consent overnight to break the impasse and fund the Department of Homeland Security without ICE deportation operations, sending the package to the House of Representatives where passage is still uncertain.
Democrats had offered support for this funding strategy for weeks but President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans had demanded an “all or nothing” vote.
The Senate passed the compromise with unanimous consent, a voice vote without any recorded opposition, after the White House signaled that the Trump would sign the legislation after weeks of airport delays and historically-low public approval ratings.
New Mexico’s Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, alongside other Democrats, had spent weeks calling for Republicans to agree to this type of structure to pay TSA, Coast Guard and FEMA workers while they focused on more contentious demands for ICE reforms. Most ICE operations remain unaffected, however, because of special appropriations pushed through without Democratic support in the president’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill last summer.
All three of New Mexico’s Representatives in Congress are expected to approve the measure if it comes up for a vote Friday, as expected. But some hardline House Republicans have objected to similar efforts in the past, making passage less certain.