Republicans Find a Way to Give ICE Even More Money—and Less Oversight

Senate Republicans are putting forward a new reconciliation package for immigration enforcement.

Senate Republicans are looking to funnel nearly $70 billion with absolutely no strings attached to Donald Trump’s lawless immigration enforcement campaign.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley unveiled the legislative text Monday night for the Republicans’ reconciliation package, directing $38.2 billion to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The bill also allocates $26 billion for offices under Customs and Border Protection, including $3.5 billion for border security technology and screening, according to Punchbowl News.

Meanwhile, another bill from the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee would provide an additional $32.5 billion, bringing the total package for immigration enforcement to roughly $69.2 billion, with ICE set to receive approximately $38.2 billion, according to Migrant Insider.

Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy for the Center for American Progress, warned on X Monday night that these funds had “enormous flexibility, with far less accountability or oversight than typical annual appropriations for DHS funding has.”

Senate Republicans have framed this massive expenditure as giving ICE and CBP enough funds to be shutdown-proof until the end of Trump’s term. But in reality, ICE already had twice as much funding as it needed to run from the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July. Now ICE has roughly four or five times the amount of funding it needs to run until 2029, while CBP only has the funds to make it to 2027, according to Kogan.

There do not appear to be any offsetting cuts to pay for this bill.

Since Trump launched his sweeping immigration crackdown, American voters have borne witness to federal immigration agents’ use of threats and intimidation, excessive force, warrantless searches or arrests, racial profiling, and wrongful detentions. ICE has detained hundreds of children, and families of mixed legal status are being regularly torn apart by the administration’s relentless immigration crackdown. Federal immigration agents were also responsible for the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

Rather than reform these federal agencies, Senate Republicans are choosing to write them a blank check using taxpayer dollars.

Trump, 79, Falls Asleep After Bragging to Kids About Iran War Plans

President Trump took a short nap while others were speaking at the White House event.

President Trump thinks that an event where he is surrounded by children is the best time to discuss the Iran war and then doze off.

On Tuesday, at a signing ceremony in the Oval Office to restore the Presidential Fitness Award, Trump went off on a tangent on the war while thanking some members of his Cabinet, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whom he praised for a press conference earlier in the day.

“That was really great, and you’re doing very well,” Trump said from his seat at the Resolute Desk, turning to Hegseth. Then he abruptly changed the subject to Iran.

“They don’t like playing games with us. They don’t like it at all, you’ll see that. As time goes by, you’re gonna see it. I think you’ve already seen it; we’ve basically wiped out their military in about two weeks,” Trump added, with kids and senior officials on either side of him. Later, Trump went further, describing Iran’s leaders as “sick people” and “lunatics” that he would not allow to have a nuclear weapon.

the optics of this Oval Office event are absolutely insane. get a load of this. crazytown. pic.twitter.com/CTU1T84Y8Q— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2026

the optics of this Oval Office event are absolutely insane. get a load of this. crazytown. pic.twitter.com/CTU1T84Y8Q

Then Trump thanked Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but as Kennedy spoke about how “grateful” he was for Trump’s decision to restore the fitness test, the president fell asleep.

Trump, surrounded by kids, is struggling to stay awake as RFK Jr drones on and on pic.twitter.com/hXrfk9uuSU— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2026

Trump, surrounded by kids, is struggling to stay awake as RFK Jr drones on and on pic.twitter.com/hXrfk9uuSU

When it became Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s turn to speak, Trump’s head was bobbing, his eyes opening and closing as McMahon spoke about needing to eat well and exercise to have a “sound mind.”

LINDA McMAHON: In order to have a sound mind, you do have to eat well, you do have to exerciseTRUMP: *sitting, eyes closed* pic.twitter.com/5lMSkmYmJ5— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 5, 2026

LINDA McMAHON: In order to have a sound mind, you do have to eat well, you do have to exerciseTRUMP: *sitting, eyes closed* pic.twitter.com/5lMSkmYmJ5

All of this shows that Trump is not well, mentally or physically. He is in clear decline in full view to the public, and no matter the subject, he will wander off topic and doze off if he gets the chance.

Trump Is Losing His Political Juice, Right Before Midterms

Donald Trump’s influence over voters is waning.

Donald Trump does not have the same sway that he used to.

The MAGA leader’s supposedly astronomical influence over the Republican Party is being tested in the run-up to the November midterms, Politico reported early Tuesday.

There’s plenty of evidence that his pull is fading. Trump’s retribution campaign begins in Indiana, where 21 local Republican legislators blocked his attempts to redistrict their state in December. Eight of them are up for reelection this cycle, and Trump aims to oust all of them. So far, Trump has endorsed primary challengers against seven, and his allies have spent........

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