Ranking Member DeLauro Remarks at the Full Committee Markup of the Fiscal Year 2027 Homeland Security Funding Bill

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the full committee markup of the fiscal year 2027 Homeland Security funding bill:

Thank you Chairman Cole, Chairman Amodei, and Ranking Member Cuellar. I also want to join my colleagues in congratulating Chairman Amodei on his retirement. 

Let me just say thank you for your serious deliberation, your integrity in the process, your commitment to this country, your professionalism I’ve always enjoyed our conversations, enjoyed working with you. And your good humor. You took your job very seriously, but I may say, unlike many others here, you did not take yourself seriously. 

And that contributes to our ability to be able to get things done. So thank you, its been a wonderful opportunity for me to get to work with you, Mark. And I wish you obviously the very best in whatever endeavor you engage yourself in and I know it will be a successful one. Congratulations, Mr. Chairman.

Let me say a thank you to the committee staff: Shannon McCully, Jamie Wise, and Jim Ellsworth for the minority, and Paul Anstine, Anna Lanier Fischer, Fern Gibbons, Ashley Truluck, Alessandra Ramirez, and Nkosi Thomas on the majority. Thank you for all of your hard work in bringing these bills to fruition.

I am opposed to the bill under consideration today. The American people are demanding substantial reforms to how ICE and the Border Patrol operate. They want strong guardrails to protect our communities from continued abuse at the hands of masked, armed federal agents who have harassed, detained, beaten, and even killed American citizens with no accountability.

From the outset, we have maintained that we will not provide another penny in funding for ICE or the Border Patrol without substantial reforms to how those agencies operate.

But this bill provides more than $10 billion for ICE and nearly $7 billion for the Border Patrol.  While I welcome the incremental measures the majority has included in this bill, which make progress toward some of the reforms necessary to protect our communities, including a prohibition on the detention and deportation of U.S. citizens, they still fall far short of what is required to earn our support.

These agencies have broken the law. In January alone, ICE violated nearly 100 court orders, which the chief federal judge in Minnesota – a Republican-appointee – estimated was more than some federal agencies have violated during their entire existence.

Last week, Secretary Mullin testified that he is under no obligation to follow court orders he simply doesn’t agree with. That the head of the largest federal law enforcement agency in the country would show such flagrant disregard for the American legal system should offend anyone who respects the rule of law.

I cannot help but notice the contrast in how this administration treats people based on their perceived political affiliations.

If you assault police officers and storm the Capitol because you believed the president’s lie that the election was stolen from him, you will be pardoned, and you could even get a taxpayer-funded payout – even though the latest reporting shows nearly 100 of the January 6th rioters have been accused of new crimes – ranging from grand larceny and burglary to child molestation.

But if you exercise your First Amendment right to peacefully protest how ICE or the Border Patrol are conducting themselves, you can be beaten, harassed, detained, or even killed, and the Trump administration will block investigations into the misconduct, while Republicans in Congress insist on providing billions more in funding for the agencies that abused you in the first place.

The majority of Americans support strong protections from ICE abuses. Agents must get a warrant from a judge before kicking in someone’s door; they must remove their masks and display identification; we must prohibit operations at schools, hospitals, and houses of worship; end racial profiling; and allow for independent investigations into misconduct. That is how we keep our communities safe, and how we protect the rights of all Americans. That is how we regain the trust of the American people that this administration has demolished.

While providing more funding for ICE and the Border Patrol, this bill cuts funding for TSA, cybersecurity, and the internal watchdogs that investigate abuse within DHS.

After refusing to fund TSA for months unless we also gave more money to ICE and the Border Patrol, now the plan is to cut TSA funding by nearly $350 million. After President Trump’s war of choice with Iran has heightened the risk of cyberattacks, the plan is to cut more than $250 million from cybersecurity. All while still providing more funding for ICE and the Border Patrol without many of the substantial reforms the American people are demanding.

As we speak, House Republican leadership are working to circumvent this committee and give the Trump administration another $70 billion with no strings attached. There is no accountability, and there is no oversight. If the measure passes, DHS will have secured more than $260 billion that this committee did not approve.

I will always stand up for the Appropriations process. I believe firmly, and I know Chairman Cole shares my belief, that partisan reconciliation bills are no substitute for the work we do here.

But you have to see the absurdity in refusing to include substantive guardrails against ICE and Border Patrol, while also giving them nearly $17 billion – on top of the $70 billion Republicans are trying to give them outside of this committee – and cutting funding for cybersecurity, the TSA, and internal watchdogs who prevent abuse within the Department.

The reforms we are seeking for these agencies are not unreasonable, nor are they impractical. They are popular, responsible, and necessary to ensure the safety of our constituents.

I encourage my colleagues to work with us to adopt all of these reforms and protect our communities. Until then, I remain opposed to this legislation.

Thank you, and I yield back.

###