Senate Passes $70 Billion ICE and Border Patrol Bill in Pre-Dawn Vote After GOP Beats Back Revolt Over Trump's 'Slush Fund'

The Senate voted just before 5 a.m. Friday to pass a $70 billion package funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, capping a marathon session that exposed deep fractures within President Donald Trump's own party over a controversial fund for his political allies.

The measure passed 52-47, with no Democratic support, after Republican leaders narrowly defeated a series of amendments — pushed by Democrats and a handful of Republicans alike — that would have permanently banned a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. The money could be used to compensate Trump allies who claim they were mistreated or politically persecuted by the federal government. Democrats have branded it a "slush fund," and the fight over it nearly derailed the broader bill.

An initial move by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to strip out the fund brought the chamber to a near standstill for hours after Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine broke ranks to vote for the motion. Despite the drama, none of the amendments cleared the chamber, and the fund survived intact. The episode came days after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced he would halt the Justice Department's parallel "anti-weaponization" effort, a decision that did little to quiet the controversy.

Only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against the final bill. Murkowski told NBC News she opposed it because it circumvented the Senate's regular appropriations process — which requires bipartisan negotiation — and because it failed to eliminate the fund she and others had objected to. Her defection underscored lingering unease among institutionalists in the party about both the bill's substance and the process used to ram it through.

The legislation represents one of the largest single infusions of cash into immigration enforcement in U.S. history, locking in funding for ICE and Border Patrol operations through the end of Trump's term. The money is earmarked for hiring and training thousands of new agents, expanding detention capacity, and underwriting the administration's deportation operations. Supporters cast it as essential to sustaining the administration's aggressive deportation and border-security agenda, while opponents warned it would entrench a sprawling enforcement apparatus with minimal oversight.

Democrats argued throughout the night that the bill amounted to a blank check, funneling tens of billions of dollars into agencies that have faced mounting criticism over aggressive raids and detention conditions, all while shielding a fund they say is designed to reward the president's friends. Republicans countered that the country faces an ongoing security imperative at the border and that the multiyear funding would give enforcement agencies the stability to plan and operate without the threat of recurring shutdown fights.

The bill now heads to the House, where Republican leaders have signaled they intend to move quickly, though the anti-weaponization provision is expected to draw renewed scrutiny there as well. With Democrats unified in opposition and a handful of Republicans uneasy about both the process and the fund, the final shape of the package — and the political fallout from the pre-dawn vote — is likely to reverberate well beyond Capitol Hill.