By Nelson A. King
WASHINGTON, Jue 10, CMC – Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has joined Caribbean immigration advocates in strongly denouncing the Republican-controlled United States House of Representatives’ passage of what they described as a “shameful” reconciliation bill that would fund broad immigration enforcement.
By a vote of 214-212, House Republicans passed the measure that funds the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agencies with observers saying the passage represents a major victory of President Donald J. Trump’s sweeping immigration deportation agenda.
The nearly US$70 billion budget reconciliation package that, for weeks, was stalled in the US Senate, now goes to Trump’s desk for his signature into law.
“Another day, another sinister attack by House Republicans in their endless effort to make America less safe, less affordable, and less like the nation we love and deserve,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) after Tuesday’s vote.
“While we already knew their sole concern has only ever been pleasing Donald Trump and staying out of the crosshairs of his tantrums, today’s reconciliation bill and the many schemes and handouts it comprises are just further proof of the extent of their subservience to the president and abandonment of the people,” added the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).
She said at a time when millions of Americans are struggling to breathe under the weight of rising costs caused by their president’s illegal war and poor policies, the Republicans have, once again, demonstrated no regard for any relief for working people whatsoever.
“No, these congressional sycophants have made their priorities clear: From funneling another US$70 billion to their war on immigrants that overwhelmingly harms Black and brown communities through racial profiling, indefinite detainment, and the disappearing of our neighbuors, to ensuring the insurrectionists who brutalized cops can get a lucrative payday for their crimes…,” Clarke said, adding “these are not public servants, only the president’s”.
House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries said “Republicans’ reckless ICE and CBP reconciliation package gives Donald Trump another US$70 billion to unleash brutality on our communities.
“I rise today in strong opposition to this Republican scheme to waste US$70 billion in taxpayer money to give a blank check to ICE without any guardrails, any oversight or any accountability,” Jeffries said told Congress.
“Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just and it should be humane. That’s not what is going on right now as it relates to Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine.
“We believe immigration enforcement should be fair, just and humane, that ICE needs to be brought under control and that ICE needs to conduct itself like every other cop, every other police officer and every other law enforcement agency in this country. But instead, Republicans have decided to continue to waste taxpayer dollars to jam Donald Trump’s extreme right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” he added.
Murad Awawdeh, president and chief executive officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), described Tuesday’s vote as “a dangerous escalation of Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and a reckless misuse of taxpayer dollars.
“Instead of investing in the programs and services that help all working families thrive, Congress has handed ICE and Border Patrol a blank check to expand deportation, the private prison industry, and border militarization,” he told CMC.
“This taxpayer-funded windfall is built on the false premise that scapegoating and targeting immigrants will improve public safety or improve the lives of millions of Americans,” he said, adding “we thank those elected officials who reject this bill and all it represents, and we call on the whole of Congress to reverse course and fight for a country where all families have opportunity and access to the American Dream”.
After Tuesday’s vote, House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson said that “the historic mandate that put President Trump in the White House and Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate is evidence of the fact that Democrats’ defund the police agenda is wildly out of step with hardworking American families.
“After four long years of Democratic policies that opened the door to dangerous criminals and deadly drugs, Republicans are delivering on our promise to restore safe streets and secure our borders,” he added.
Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger claimed that, “for years, the left surrendered our border to chaos and held crucial funding hostage every chance they got”.
On Monday, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan threatened to send ICE agents to New York City in response to New York Governor Kathy Hochul signing of a slate of immigration legislation into law.
The package of legislation ends formal partnerships with ICE, establishes the right for New Yorkers to sue federal agents who violate their constitutional rights in court, and bars schools, and state and local agencies from sharing information or facilitating civil immigration enforcement.
CMC/nk/ir/2026