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Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., wants to redirect nearly $75 billion in ICE funding from the GOP’s 2025 megabill rather than defund the agency at the Jan. 30 deadline, according to a proposal first shared with Semafor.
Cortez Masto is proposing that $45 billion for ICE detention centers be allocated to Justice Assistant Grant programs and nearly $30 billion in enforcement money to the COPS law enforcement hiring program.
“I support strong border security. We need it,” Cortez Masto told Semafor. But “this administration is not going after hardened criminals with this money. So why don’t we redirect it to those local law enforcement agencies that are really focused on keeping our community safe?”
The second-term Nevada Democrat argued that the extra ICE funding is going toward hiring officers with less training, who are “inciting some of what we are seeing happening across the country.”
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Cortez Masto has strongly criticized ICE’s enforcement in Minnesota and told Semafor it amounted to “racial profiling” and “setting quotas.” But the Nevada Democrat also dislikes government shutdowns or standoffs over them.
Her proposal seeks to impose some accountability on ICE without setting up a shutdown fight on Jan. 30. It’s backed by Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, John Hickenlooper of Colorado and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.
“If we transfer these funds, we don’t rescind ICE’s regular appropriations,” she said. “We still need to secure the border and go after violent criminals who are undocumented.”
The bill would redirect that money over four years, but Republicans aren’t going to want to reprogram money they just passed. Cortez Masto knows that, but also knows Democrats might have more power in Congress next year to better make their move.
“I doubt that they would support redirecting that $75 billion. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t fight for it, and it doesn’t mean when we take control as Democrats, we don’t look to do the same thing,” she said.