Rep. Ilhan Omar is pushing legislation that would gut ICE's budget and funnel the money to communities she says were harmed by immigration enforcement, a proposal conservatives are calling "un-American" and "America last."
The Minnesota Democrat's bill, dubbed the Make ICE Pay Act, would redirect nearly $140 billion in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding from President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act toward what Omar's office describes as "local recovery efforts." The funds would flow to nonprofits, small businesses, schools, healthcare providers, and local governments that Omar claims have been damaged by federal immigration operations.
Omar framed the legislation as a direct response to "Operation Metro Surge," a federal enforcement operation in her home state of Minnesota. Her congressional office released details of the bill on Thursday, and she promoted it on X shortly after.
The bill has no realistic path to passage. Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But the proposal drew immediate and fierce pushback from Republican officials who cast it as a transparent attempt to defund border enforcement and reward communities that shield illegal immigrants from federal law.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., posted on X with a blunt assessment of Omar's proposal:
"This bill is un-American. This bill defunds law enforcement and gives their funding to the communities harboring criminal illegal aliens. Democrats fight for everyone except the American people."
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders joined the criticism. She posted on X:
"Defund ICE. Weaken the border. Then expect safer communities? That math isn't mathing."
The conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok called the bill "the definition of America last" and added two words: "Denaturalize and deport." John Nagel, the Republican running against Omar in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District this November, went further, writing that "her entire existence is on crippling the United States."
Omar, for her part, cast ICE as the aggressor. She posted on X:
"ICE has been tearing through our nation, devastating our neighborhoods, our cities, and our businesses. Our communities deserve accountability. My Make ICE Pay Act will redirect ICE's $140 billion budget to the communities they've hurt the most."
Omar's press release lays out the mechanics. The Department of Housing and Urban Development would administer the program. HUD's inspector general, the agency's internal watchdog, would provide oversight. The program would expire three years after its creation.
The funds would be distributed through state governments to a broad list of recipients: nonprofits, small businesses, schools, healthcare facilities, and what the bill describes as other "impacted entities." The money could also cover psychological services, increased local-government expenses tied to enforcement operations, and what the bill calls "investigations and memorialization efforts."
That last category, memorialization, stands out. Omar's bill would use money originally earmarked for arresting and deporting illegal immigrants to instead memorialize the effects of those same operations. The proposal treats lawful federal enforcement as a harm to be documented and compensated, not a public-safety function to be funded.
The dollar figures in the proposal deserve scrutiny. Omar's own X post and her press release both cite $140 billion. The article body in Fox News Digital's report separately describes the redirected amount as "over $100 billion." A video segment on the same page references Trump signing "a $70 billion bill to fund ICE and CBP through 2029." Whether these figures reflect different funding streams or a discrepancy remains unclear.
The timing of this bill adds a layer that Omar's critics have not missed. White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed to Fox News that DHS is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation involving the congresswoman. Homan declined to disclose specifics but acknowledged ICE's role in the probe.
Homan told Fox News:
"I'm confirming that ICE is, yeah, look, I said months ago that there's something that's been reported and needs to be looked at."
Omar has long been dogged by allegations that she married a man critics allege is her brother as part of an immigration scheme. The claim has not been proven in public records. In December, Omar dismissed the accusations as "bigoted lies" and wrote on social media that Trump was obsessed with her.
Federal investigators examining Omar's case may face significant legal hurdles related to the marriage allegation specifically. Reporting has suggested the federal probe may actually target citizenship paperwork rather than the brother-marriage claim alone.
Omar has denied any federal contact about the investigation, even as Homan publicly confirmed it. Fox News Digital reached out to Omar's office for comment on the Make ICE Pay Act. No response was noted.
Nobody expects this legislation to reach a committee vote, let alone a floor debate. Republicans hold the gavels. Trump just signed the very bill Omar wants to cannibalize for her fund. The Make ICE Pay Act is a messaging exercise, not a serious legislative effort.
But messaging exercises reveal priorities. Omar chose to introduce a bill that treats immigration enforcement as a community injury requiring financial reparations. She chose to frame ICE agents carrying out federal law as perpetrators of harm. And she chose to do it while her own conduct is the subject of a DHS investigation into her immigration history.
Omar's bill would take money Congress just voted to spend on border security and hand it to HUD for distribution to the same communities that critics say have been shielding illegal immigrants from federal agents. Sen. Banks put it plainly: the bill "defunds law enforcement and gives their funding to the communities harboring criminal illegal aliens."
Whether or not the Make ICE Pay Act ever sees a hearing room, it tells American taxpayers everything they need to know about where one wing of the Democratic Party stands: not with the agents enforcing the law, but with the effort to punish them for doing their jobs.
