Senate GOP erupts over Trump DOJ 'anti-weaponization' fund, punts ICE, Border Patrol funding
Senate Republicans are pressing pause on their push to fund immigration enforcement after a tense, closed-door meeting. But it’s not over internal divisions. This time, the fury is directed toward...
By Fox News · Fox News
Senate Republicans are pressing pause on their push to fund immigration enforcement after a tense, closed-door meeting. But it’s not over internal divisions. This time, the fury is directed toward the Trump administration and the surprise "anti-weaponization" fund created by the Department of Justice (DOJ). It comes as Republicans were near the finish line for their $72 billion package to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. For now, Republicans are calling it a day and leaving Washington, D.C. "We will pick up where we left off," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP'S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ 'SLUSH FUND' FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLAN That makes President Donald Trump's June 1 deadline effectively impossible to meet, but Republicans contend that it’s the administration’s actions that have further complicated an already rocky process. "The message to the administration is this: we were on a glide path to passing this bill until these announcements," a top Republican aide told Fox News Digital. The timing of the settlement between Trump and his family and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the subsequent creation of the fund derailed Republicans’ sprint to the finish line. "We don’t know where the votes are on reconciliation right now," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said. SENATE REPUBLICAN THREATENS TO DERAIL ICE, BORDER PATROL PACKAGE OVER TRUMP'S BILLION-DOLLAR REQUEST The White House referred Fox News Digital to Trump's comments Thursday when asked if he would be amenable to no ballroom security funding and restrictions on the DOJ's nearly $1.8 billion fund, or veto the package outright. "I don't need money from the ballroom," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, and touted that the actual construction was being done through private funding. "But this is being made as a gift from me and other people that are great patriots that spent a lot of money," he continued. "We're buildin…