DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 57 (Thursday, March 26, 2026)] [House] [Page H2719] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING (Mr. Espaillat of New York was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, ICE is an untamed agency that continues to overstep the bounds of legality. They have shot and killed American citizens in Minnesota, and almost 50 people have died under their custody. They continue to pound people all over the country. We saw how they lurked around schools, bringing fear to American families. They body slammed a sitting Member of the U.S. Senate from the State of California. They tear-gassed and threw chemicals at duly elected Members of the House of Representatives in California. They continue to establish that they have no civility and no respect for sensitive locations, for houses of worship, schools, and hospitals. Instead of addressing these issues and protecting constituents, Republicans have withheld hundreds of thousands of dollars from FEMA, TSA, and Coast Guard personnel. This week, Madam Speaker, we are voting on a dishonest resolution that supposedly shows support for Department of Homeland Security agencies. Republicans are also putting the same DHS funding bill on the floor that has already failed in the Senate numerous times. This is a disingenuous effort, a failed proposal, and, frankly, a lie. If Congress really supported these workers, then we would be having a serious discussion, a conversation, about how to end the shutdown. Let's fund TSA. Let's separate TSA from ICE. Let's make sure that the men and women who work at our airports get their salaries. We can do that. ICE deserves to be dismantled because of their rogue behavior and because of their deadly behavior. A discussion must be had about the future of any agency, and TSA agents deserve to get their salaries. {time} 1100 Passengers across the country that are waiting hours upon hours and missing their flights deserve not to have their lives disrupted. Let's pay the TSA agents, and let's have a full discussion about the wrong ways of this deadly agency called ICE. Meanwhile, more than 400 TSA officers have already quit since the shutdown on February 14. The FEMA disaster fund is now depleted. DHS employees have been forced to go without pay for nearly 6 weeks. Airline travelers are experiencing the worst wait times in the history of our Nation, and some are being harassed at the airport by ICE agents. The President has not helped this disaster by insisting that Republicans reject any and all proposals that come before his desk. Any attempt to pass a bill to resolve this matter the President has automatically rejected. In fact, he has thrown gasoline on top of this conflict by adding a voter suppression bill, the SAVE Act, to this discussion, something that has nothing to do with the airports or TSA. In fact, many Americans, including married women, seniors, and others feel that this is a voter suppression effort, trying to throw us decades back from the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act legislation that protected all Americans. We must hold this effort, dastardly effort, accountable. ICE's mission under Trump was never to keep America safe. It was to keep immigrant communities frightened through fear and intimidation tactics. We must hold this agency accountable, and we begin to do that by dismantling it. ____________________