Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which released the FY2027 Homeland Security bill. Official Senate portrait (public domain).
Senate Republicans’ $78.2 billion Homeland Security bill for fiscal 2027 includes no new money for ICE or Border Patrol, because both are already funded by multiyear laws Congress passed earlier.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Republican majority released a $78.2 billion Homeland Security funding bill for fiscal 2027 on Nov. 12, and its most consequential line is the one that isn’t there: Immigration and Customs Enforcement gets no annual appropriation. The committee says ICE and the Border Patrol are already paid for through multiyear laws, so the bill funds the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, including Customs and Border Protection’s ports of entry, USCIS’s E-Verify work and new money for detention oversight.
The timing matters because the government is running on a continuing resolution that expires Dec. 11, and Democrats take control of both chambers in January. The bill, one of five the committee released that day, is a committee draft prepared for markup; no markup date has been announced. Bloomberg Law reported that it is unlikely to become law as written but opens negotiations ahead of a possible shutdown after Dec. 11.
- Total: $78.2 billion, made up of $49.8 billion in regular discretionary spending and $28.4 billion for disaster relief, according to the committee’s summary. The explanatory statement puts the fiscal 2026 enacted level at $74.2 billion.
- ICE and Border Patrol: no annual funding. The committee cites Public Law 119-98, which it says funds both through fiscal 2030, and the 2025 reconciliation law, Public Law 119-21.
- CBP: $11.6 billion, which the summary describes as $255 million above the fiscal 2026 level, with added money for aircraft and sensors, counter-drug work and trade infrastructure.
- USCIS: $123 million in appropriated funds “to sustain the level of FY2026 operations,” a line that covers E-Verify.
- Oversight: $269 million for the DHS Inspector General, including $20 million for oversight of detention facilities.
Why the Homeland Security funding bill skips ICE
For most of the past two decades, the annual Homeland Security bill was where Congress set ICE’s detention budget and bed count, and where fights over enforcement played out. That changed in 2025 and 2026. The reconciliation law gave CBP more than $64 billion through fiscal 2029, the committee’s statement says, and P.L. 119-98 added more than $26 billion for the Border Patrol. The statement says the committee does not expect to provide additional annual resources for ICE or the Border Patrol until that money runs out.
The comparison with the House is stark. The House Appropriations Committee approved its own fiscal 2027 bill, H.R. 9310, on June 11 by a 34-27 vote. That bill provides $64.9 billion in discretionary funding, including $10.1 billion for ICE, of which $3.8 billion is for custody operations, and $18.3 billion for CBP, according to the committee’s Republican summary. House Democrats said in their own summary that it would fund 41,500 detention beds. The two chambers are therefore not just apart on numbers but on whether ICE belongs in this bill at all.
The practical effect is to blunt one of the tools an incoming Democratic majority might have used. Democrats have said they want to condition enforcement money on changes in how ICE operates, as reported after the midterms; in June, House Appropriations ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro said Democrats would not back more money for ICE and the Border Patrol without substantial reforms. Republicans, led by House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, have framed border and enforcement funding as a core federal duty. With ICE’s core funding locked in by statute through the end of the decade, withholding an annual appropriation would not cut off the agency. The leverage that remains lies in riders, reporting requirements and oversight money, which is where this draft puts some of its weight.
What the bill does change for detainees, travelers and employers
Several provisions reach people in DHS custody. Section 527 limits the use of restraints on pregnant women, Section 528 bars destroying records about deaths or abuse in custody, and Section 210 requires CBP’s 2021 policy on pregnant, postpartum and nursing people and infants to stay in effect. The explanatory statement also directs DHS to evaluate its 287(g) partnerships with local police and brief the committee within 180 days, and asks for monthly reports on metering and turnbacks at southwest border ports.
For travelers, Section 207 bars DHS from creating a land border crossing fee or studying one. For employers, the USCIS line keeps E-Verify funded at current levels. Most of USCIS’s budget comes from application fees, which is why its appropriated line is small; E-Verify is one of the programs that depends on it. Immigration courts are not in this bill; EOIR is funded through the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which the committee released the same day.
The open question is what happens on Dec. 11. Congress can pass another continuing resolution, which would keep DHS at fiscal 2026 rates, or negotiate a full-year bill with the outgoing majorities. Either way, the multiyear enforcement money means ICE and the Border Patrol would likely keep operating even through a lapse in annual funding, a point that changes the stakes of any shutdown fight for the immigration system compared with earlier years. A lapse would weigh more heavily on the parts of DHS that depend on annual funds.
Dates to watch on DHS funding
- Dec. 11, 2026: current continuing resolution expires.
- Senate markup: not yet scheduled for the Homeland Security bill.
- January 2027: the new Congress, with Democratic majorities in both chambers, is sworn in.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice.
Sources
- Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Five FY 2027 Funding Bills, Senate Appropriations Committee (Nov. 12, 2026)
- FY2027 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Summary, Senate Appropriations Committee
- FY2027 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill text, Senate Appropriations Committee
- FY2027 Homeland Security Explanatory Statement, Senate Appropriations Committee
- Committee Approves FY27 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, House Appropriations Committee (June 11, 2026)
- FY27 Homeland Security Full Committee Bill Summary, House Appropriations Committee Republicans
- Republican 2027 Homeland Security Funding Bill Falls Short, House Appropriations Committee Democrats (June 5, 2026)
- FY27 Homeland Security Bill Summary, House Appropriations Committee Democrats
- Continuing Appropriations Act, 2027, Division A, Senate Appropriations Committee
- GOP Proposes $78 Billion for Department of Homeland Security, Bloomberg Law (Nov. 13, 2026)
About the Author
