House Judiciary panel advances reconciliation text with $81 billion for immigration enforcement amid fierce debate over due process

The House Judiciary Committee on an extended markup advanced a reconciliation "committee print" that would provide roughly $81 billion in new funding tied mainly to immigration enforcement, regulatory rollbacks and other items, and transmitted the text to the Budget Committee after hours of debate and dozens of amendments.

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) opened the session by framing the measure as a response to what he called an unprecedented surge of unlawful migration and said the panel’s text would “provide a total of $81,000,000,000 in funding” across agencies to strengthen enforcement. He characterized the proposal as necessary to secure the border and support enforcement operations.

Democrats pushed repeatedly for changes they said would protect civil liberties and communities. Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told the committee the package risked “stripping the courts of their power” and repeatedly warned that the measure would enable deportations without adequate judicial oversight. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and other Democrats criticized the bill’s funding priorities and legal changes and urged protections for asylum seekers and for people who could be wrongly targeted.

What the committee advanced - Funding and enforcement details: The chair’s opening summary and subsequent debate described $81 billion in new spending for homeland security, the Department of Justice and related programs, including a headline $45 billion allocation referenced for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and removal operations. Members read portions of the text aloud and committee staff described line items that target detention capacity, personnel,…