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Committee member urges hearing on ICE spending and sanctuary policies, cites deaths and debt figures
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Summary
A member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations pressed colleagues to examine immigration‑enforcement spending and sanctuary policies, warning that expanded ICE funding and practices threaten civil liberties and citing media reports and budget estimates; written statements were entered into the record.
A member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations opened the committee’s first meeting in a year by calling for hearings on the growth of immigration‑enforcement spending and the impact of sanctuary policies on public safety and civil liberties. The member said recent federal legislation—referred to in the transcript as the 'big ugly bill'—cut nutrition assistance and health coverage even as it sharply increased funding for ICE.
The committee member framed the issue as both a budget and civil‑liberties concern, saying the legislation is projected to raise the national debt by about $30,000,000,000,000 over 30 years and that a 1 percentage‑point higher interest assumption using CBO modeling would increase that projection to roughly $50,000,000,000,000. He also said Department of Homeland Security immigration‑enforcement funding approaches $170,000,000,000 and argued that ICE’s budget has grown by a factor of seven.
"It's been a year since we've had a meeting of this budget committee," the committee member said, and later called the legislation "a big ugly betrayal of the American citizen." He added, "We now have a secret police called ICE," describing warrantless entries and unmarked vehicles as practices that, in his view, threaten constitutional norms.
The member also cited media reporting and allegations of fatal encounters with immigration‑enforcement personnel. He named three people—Renee Goode, Alex Preddy and Ruben Ray Martinez—and said that recent CBS News reporting obtained body‑camera footage showing Martinez being killed by an ICE officer in March 2025.
As context for public‑safety claims, the member cited a 2022 study he said found jurisdictions that keep local police focused on community policing rather than assisting federal immigration enforcement experienced lower crime rates and related social benefits such as higher median household income and lower unemployment.
The member introduced two expert witnesses expected to take part in the hearing: David Beer of the Cato Institute, described in the transcript as an expert on sanctuary policies, and "Bridal Duke" of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, described as focusing on budgetary impacts. He also noted that Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield submitted a written statement supporting state and local policing policies.
The committee member asked unanimous consent to enter Rayfield’s statement and a statement from the Law Enforcement Action Partnership into the record; consent was granted.
The hearing proceeded to witness testimony and other business after opening remarks.
