The House passed a nearly $70 billion package Tuesday to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for three years, capping off a four-month partisan standoff.<\/p>\n

That bill is now on its way to President Donald Trump\u2019s desk following a 214-212 vote, proving Republicans can ignore Democratic demands to crack down on the administration\u2019s immigration policies and still pump unprecedented funding to the agencies carrying them out.<\/p>\n

Following the collapse of negotiations<\/a> to restrict the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement tactics, Republicans harnessed the party-line budget reconciliation process to pass legislation funding ICE and Border Patrol without any Democratic votes. Those faltered talks began after immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January.<\/p>\n

The end result is the enactment of supercharged budgets for both agencies \u2014 and the guarantee that they will be funded beyond the end of Trump\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cHallelujah \u2014 they can\u2019t shut them down now,\u201d Rep. Greg Steube<\/a> (R-Fla.) said in an interview Tuesday, referring to Democrats.<\/p>\n

On top of the more than $140 billion Republicans gave ICE and Border Patrol as part of last summer\u2019s tax and spending megabill, the legislation cleared Tuesday will pile on about $65 billion more \u2014 plus another $5 billion for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to dole out at his discretion.<\/p>\n

The annual budgets for those two agencies total about $17 billion combined under the regular government funding process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking ICE to not cause chaos and decrease public safety in our neighborhoods. They already got a huge lump sum of money,\u201d Rep. Grace Meng<\/a> (D-N.Y.), a senior House appropriator, said in an interview. \u201cSo I think it’s more than fair that we ask for reforms before we give them another penny.\u201d<\/p>\n

The monthslong ordeal to fully fund DHS after a 76-day lapse<\/a> ran adjacent to a major personnel shakeup, with the March ouster of then-Secretary Kristi Noem and subsequent installation of Mullin.<\/p>\n

The new secretary told lawmakers this month that DHS agents are now seeking judicial warrants to enter private residences, unless agents are already in the midst of pursuing an individual who then enters a home. Mullin also said that, starting in July, DHS will begin requiring 72 days of training for new immigration officers rather than the 42-day accelerated program the Trump administration has been using.<\/p>\n

But Mullin refused to commit to following court orders<\/a> and dismissed allegations of inhumane treatment at immigration detention centers, after shutting down the independent DHS watchdog last month tasked with investigating abuses at immigrant holding facilities.<\/p>\n

He also accused Democrats of hampering months of bipartisan talks around new immigration enforcement policies to save face with liberal voters ahead of the midterm elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would never get to \u2018yes,\u2019 and so we walked away and did reconciliation,\u201d Mullin told Democratic appropriators during a hearing this month.<\/p>\n

Defending his party\u2019s posture, Sen. Chris Van Hollen<\/a> (D-Md.) said in an interview this week that DHS has \u201crefused to rein in a lawless ICE operation\u201d and noted that he publicly pressed Mullin on why DHS has not been cooperating with local authorities investigating the killings in Minnesota.<\/p>\n