WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ) today condemned congressional Republican leaders for pushing billions into an out-of-control Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency without needed accountability measures, saying the FY26 Homeland Security spending bill lacks “real, enforceable oversight that holds agents who break the law responsible.” Stanton, who voted against the funding bill, also introduced legislation that redirects ICE funding Congressional Republicans passed over the summer to local communities to help hire more police officers and strengthen public safety.
“Here in Arizona, ICE has detained a member of the Navajo Nation even after he showed proof of U.S. citizenship and held a U.S. citizen for nearly ten days in Nogales. This pattern of reckless enforcement with no regard for basic civil rights must be stopped,” said Stanton. “Without real, enforceable oversight that holds agents who break the law responsible, ICE will only get worse. I cannot vote to fund a paramilitary-style mass deportation operation that keeps getting it wrong and hurting so many Arizonans.”
Stanton, who has been raising awareness over ICE’s increasingly reckless regard for the rule of law, recently helped introduced two bills to improve accountability, ensure safety, and prevent excessive overreach in federal immigration enforcement.
This week, Stanton also introduced the PUBLIC SAFETY Act, along with Reps. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Susie Lee, D-Nev., to redirect nearly $75 billion in funding from congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) directly to local law communities investing in police officers who undergo thorough training and have real ties to the communities they serve. Specifically, the bill would:
- Reallocate $29.85 billion in OBBBA funds for ICE’s enforcement and operations to the COPS Hiring Program for the hiring of over 200,000 local police officers nationwide;
- Waive the COPS Hiring Program’s matching contribution requirements for small jurisdictions; and
- Reallocate $45 billion in OBBBA funds designated for unnecessary and harmful additions to ICE’s detention capacity to the Byrne JAG program, which provides funding to support training, crime victim assistance, and crime prevention.
- This bill would not rescind ICE’s regular appropriations, leaving the agency with historically normal funding levels to conduct traditional immigration enforcement operations.
“While departments around the country are struggling to recruit and retain officers, the Trump Administration funnelled $75 billion in taxpayer funds towards its poorly trained mass deportation force,” said Stanton. “They’re not making Americans safer – they’re causing chaos and fear. My legislation gives police officers what they need to keep us safe, while reining in the abuses of ICE.”