ICE is funded through at least 2029, deportations will continue: DHS

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Wednesday in response to the election that “deportations will continue.”

In a follow-up post on X, Mullin added, “365 days per year, the hardworking men and women of ICE law enforcement are targeting and arresting criminal illegal aliens to make America safe again—this includes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Election Day.”

“Just yesterday, ICE arrested more heinous illegal alien criminals with convictions including attempted murder, aggravated assault with a weapon, and child molestation,” he continued. “The Trump Administration will never apologize for putting the safety of the American people first by arresting and removing these criminal illegal aliens.”

In June 2026, Congress passed the “Secure America Act,” a reconciliation bill that provides multi-year funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through September 30, 2029. The package totals roughly $70 billion, with the majority of funds going towards enforcement operations, according to the bill. This is on top of the House Appropriations Committee advancement of Fiscal Year 2027 DHS bills with additional ICE funding.

The 2024 campaign of President Donald Trump was largely focused on mass deportations, an agenda that was supported by voters from both political parties, hoping to correct the Biden era’s disastrous open-border policies that flooded the nation with millions of foreign invaders. Despite the variety of reasons that critics have since proposed, immigration enforcement was not one of the reasons why Republicans were decimated during midterms, according to data.

The Federalist reported that a June 2024 CBS poll found that 6 in 10 registered voters supported the deportations of all foreign nationals “living in the US illegally.” Just days prior to Tuesday’s election, NBC News conducted a poll that revealed that voters had a significant preference for Republicans regarding their immigration policies.

The outlet discovered that voters continued to favor Republicans over Democrats in the context of which party was “better able to handle immigration.” Exit polls indicated that Republican voters held immigration enforcement in high regard as a successful policy, while Democrats stated that it was not a significant factor in their decision to vote. This can be interpreted as a setback to mainstream media's agenda of demonizing ICE.

The failure to fulfill the deportation mandate would be the incorrect lesson to learn from the midterms, as the election was mostly decided on affordability, according to analysts. And given that the election was decided on affordability, Americans should support mass deportation efforts, as years of unchecked mass migration have had a detrimental impact on the cost of living for many Americans, particularly in the housing industry, DHS previously revealed.