WASHINGTON — Senators are conducting an all-night session to advance legislation funding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations while Democrats and certain Republicans attempt to insert provisions permanently preventing Trump from establishing a $1.776 billion settlement fund.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Republicans defeated a Democratic proposal to eliminate the fund, designed to provide compensation to the president’s supporters who claim they faced political persecution. However, additional amendments were expected overnight, with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana announcing plans for another attempt to stop the settlement.
These amendment votes tested party loyalty and posed risks to the immigration spending legislation, as multiple Republicans have consistently opposed the fund. The initial settlement vote remained open for approximately three hours while several GOP senators deliberated their positions.
“I feel optimistic that we’ll get there in the end,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., stated Thursday evening, though he admitted uncertainty about the voting outcomes.
For weeks, Thune has urged GOP colleagues to maintain focus on funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have obstructed since early this year, while avoiding additional provisions that might complicate approval.
Should an amendment restricting the settlement succeed, Thune indicated it would create difficulties when transmitting the legislation to the House. Such action could also trigger a White House veto of the immigration spending measure, which has otherwise united Trump and Republicans.
When the Senate previously modified a Homeland Security funding package in March, the House rejected the changes and adjourned.
Trump’s judgment fund, established through a settlement resolving his lawsuit against the IRS regarding leaked tax returns, has frustrated numerous Republican senators.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced this week that the fund would not proceed. However, Trump, who has clashed with Senate Republicans recently, created fresh uncertainty about the settlement’s status Wednesday afternoon — immediately after the Senate voted to begin immigration bill debate — when he informed reporters the settlement is “very important” and stated “I don’t know” whether it remains dormant or canceled.
“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” he commented.
The Senate defeated a second amendment Thursday from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would have similarly prohibited the settlement fund while transferring funds to a separate anti-fraud program at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats opposed the amendment, ensuring its failure, though over 10 Republicans backed it.
Tillis argued the settlement fund, which could potentially benefit Trump supporters who assaulted police and stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, creates political problems for the party.
“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis questioned. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with.”
Republican voting patterns on future amendments remained uncertain.
Cassidy, who lost reelection last month after Trump supported his primary challenger, confirmed plans to propose an amendment banning settlement payouts. He informed reporters he might also introduce an amendment blocking a separate settlement component granting Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.
Multiple Republican senators expressed support for the concept but required review of final language before deciding. Sen. John Cornyn, who also lost reelection last month following Trump’s endorsement of his opponent, said he supports the “thrust of it” but would await the amendment text. Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah expressed similar sentiments.
Thune stated his belief that the final legislation should pass without settlement prohibition language.
“This is about border funding,” Thune explained. “It’s about law enforcement, it’s about ICE and CBP. So I’m trying to, you know, keep it about the main thing.”
Democrats continued proposing amendments throughout the night, addressing Trump’s tariffs, his conflict with Iran, and his immigration enforcement operations.
“Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer declared at the day’s start.
Approving the approximately $70 billion measure funding ICE and Border Patrol would conclude the Democratic blockade that demanded policy modifications following fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The legislation would provide three-year funding through Trump’s term conclusion.
Senate Republicans are employing complex procedural tactics to circumvent the filibuster and approve the budget legislation without Democratic support. However, bringing the bill to the Senate floor required weeks as Republicans addressed various passage obstacles created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump’s ballroom that they ultimately abandoned, plus intense bipartisan opposition to the settlement fund.
Democrats maintain that any Homeland Security Department funding should impose restrictions on federal immigration authorities, including improved officer identification and increased judicial warrant usage, among other demands.
Following federal agents’ shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump accepted a Democratic request separating the Homeland Security bill from broader spending legislation that became law. Bipartisan negotiations stalled, and department funding expired in mid-February without agreement on Trump administration immigration enforcement modifications.
Congress eventually funded remaining Homeland Security Department operations in late April with Democratic backing, but ICE and Border Patrol continued operating without regular funding.
