Critics are urging primary challenges against several House Democrats who broke with their party to vote in favor of advancing a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill that includes billions for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Democratic congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti called the votes indefensible, saying there is “no excuse.”
Why It Matters
Seven House Democrats supported a $64.4 billion measure to move forward a DHS spending package that includes roughly $10 billion for ICE. The vote came during a markup of the DHS appropriations bill. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky cast the lone Republican vote against it. The measure passed 220–207 and would fund ICE and FEMA through September 30.
The vote arrives amid heightened tensions after a second person was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The incident followed ongoing protests in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross.
With the 2026 midterms approaching, Democrats see an opening to regain ground two years after President Donald Trump returned to the White House, winning both the Electoral College and the national popular vote. Republicans also took control of the Senate and maintained a narrow House majority—leaving Democrats debating what went wrong in 2024 and how to recalibrate their leadership and message.
What To Know
The seven Democrats who voted with most Republicans to advance the bill were Representatives Tom Suozzi (New York), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (North Carolina), Laura Gillen (New York), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), and Marie Glusenkamp Perez (Washington).
They faced immediate blowback from within Democratic circles, with some commentators openly pushing for primary challenges ahead of 2026.
Adam Cochran, a professor and policy consultant, wrote on X that “7 Dems need to get primaried.” Independent journalist and commentator Brian Allen echoed the sentiment, writing that, “All 7 Democrats who just voted to INCREASE ICE funding should be primaried…You don’t ‘oppose’ authoritarian crackdowns by handing them a bigger budget.”
Chakrabarti, who is running for California’s 11th Congressional District, posted on X: “There is no excuse for this. We need new Democrats and new Democratic leadership that knows what to do in this moment because the current party has no clue. No more funding for ICE!”
Republicans currently hold a 218–213 House majority. Some of the Democrats who supported moving the bill forward argued they had limited ways to register opposition to DHS while still preventing a funding lapse.
Those lawmakers also warned that letting DHS funding expire could hit disaster relief efforts and disrupt agencies like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), while ICE and Customs and Border Protection could continue operating with fewer immediate consequences. They pointed to funding from last year’s sweeping Republican tax and immigration law, which directed tens of billions of dollars toward border enforcement.
ICE, which typically receives around $10 billion annually through congressional appropriations, was allocated $30 billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities under that legislation.
What People Are Saying
Representative Henry Cuellar said of the bill: “It’s not everything we wanted. We wanted more oversight. But Democrats don’t control the House, the Senate or the White House. What we were able to do was add some oversight over Homeland.”
Representative Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, posted on X: “I’m a HELL NO on today’s DHS and ICE funding vote.”
Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, shared a screenshot of the seven representatives on social media with the caption: “Your periodic reminder that conservatives, bankrolled by almost infinite GOP special interest money, run as Democrats in blue districts where they can’t win as Republicans, but can shame Democrats into ‘voting Blue no matter who.’”
Representative Tom Suozzi wrote on X that ICE “has overstepped its bounds,” citing masked agents who have “aggressively and at times violently” confronted people, including American citizens and individuals lawfully present in the U.S., sometimes before basic questions were asked or warrants were executed. Still, he said he supported the bill to fund “core operations Americans rely on every day,” including FEMA disaster response, TSA security, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, passport processing, and other essential services.
He argued the FY2026 DHS appropriations package “fully funds DHS without expanding funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” while preventing another shutdown that could disrupt services and pay for millions of Americans—pointing to what he called the damage from last year’s shutdown.
Journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote in a January 15 post on X: “Primary every Democrat who wants to fund and still support ICE. Hypocritical spineless amoral cowards and fascism-enablers.”
What Happens Next
The House has approved the final set of spending bills for the year, moving to prevent another government funding lapse after the fall’s record 43-day shutdown.
The four measures—together totaling about $1.2 trillion—now head to the Senate. Lawmakers must act by the January 30 deadline to avoid a partial federal shutdown.
Democratic primary calendars vary by state. Some of the seven lawmakers who voted to advance the bill could face challengers as early as March, while others won’t face primaries until June. The 2026 general election is scheduled for November 3.
