Popular Democracy in Action Statement on Passage of the Reconciliation Package Providing an Additional $70 Billion for Immigration Enforcement

June 9, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, DaMareo Cooper, Executive Director of Popular Democracy in Action, released the following statement in response to the passage of the Congressional reconciliation package providing an additional $70 billion for immigration enforcement:

“Republicans just handed ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol another $70 billion, bringing total spending on detention, deportation, and family separation to roughly $240 billion in less than a year.Congress had a choice. They could have invested in healthcare, affordable housing, food assistance, childcare, and lowering costs for working families. Instead, they chose to expand an agency with a long record of separating families, terrorizing communities, and operating without meaningful accountability.

This vote is also a gift to the private prison companies and contractors that profit from mass detention and deportation. While families struggle to afford basic necessities, wealthy corporations stand to make billions from human suffering.

Republicans chose ICE first and families last.

Every dollar spent on detention and deportation is a dollar not spent helping people afford healthcare, housing, food, or childcare. Popular Democracy in Action and our national network will continue fighting to claw back these funds, abolish ICE, and secure the investments our communities need to thrive. We must continue to fight to fund care, not ICE.”

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