Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduced the Make ICE Pay Act last week. This legislation would strip nearly $140 billion from ICE and CBP — funds allocated to DHS via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1) — and redirect it to communities “that have been impacted by [DHS’s] heinous operations.”
In a press release issued by her office, Omar declared:
For over a year, ICE has been tearing through our nation, leading racist terror campaigns that have caused devastating damage to our cities, to our businesses, and to the lives of our constituents.
In Minneapolis, Operation Metro Surge cost our community nearly $700 million. We have a moral responsibility to end this abuse of power. Our bill will force ICE to pay the price for the damage they’ve left in their wake and ensure that these devastating operations can never be repeated.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) echoed Omar’s sentiments, claiming that “the psychological and financial impacts of Operation Metro Surge will be generational.”
Craig said:
As Minnesotans begin the long process of healing from the wounds that President Trump’s ICE inflicted, it’s important that we commit to holding this lawless and misguided administration accountable. There is much more work to be done, but this bill is a critical step toward making our communities whole.
The press release cites the following operations: California, Minnesota (Operation Metro Surge), Illinois (Operation Midway Blitz), Louisiana (Operations Swamp Sweet and Catahoula Crunch), Maine (Operation Catch of the Day), North Carolina (Operation Charlotte’s Web), and Oregon (Operation Black Rose).
The funds can be used by:
States, localities, non-profits and small businesses to provide economic relief, reimburse operational costs, support educational institutions, or deliver psychosocial support to the impacted. It may also be used for investigations, commissions of inquiry, truth telling, record-keeping, and memorialization to make sure that this devastation is accurately recorded, remembered, and can never be repeated.
ICE has been tearing through our nation, devastating our neighborhoods, our cities, and our businesses.
Our communities deserve accountability.
My Make ICE Pay Act will redirect ICE’s $140 billion budget to the communities they’ve hurt the most.
— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) September 17, 2026
This legislation would reward sanctuary cities that have flouted U.S. immigration law for years. It is a brazen attempt to defund DHS and to redistribute those funds to many of the same entities — including non-profits and small businesses — that are currently the targets of federal fraud investigations.
[Omar herself may be the subject of a federal investigation over allegations that she married her brother
in 2009 to help him obtain immigration benefits through marriage to a U.S. citizen.]
Republicans, naturally, reacted with outrage to Omar’s latest provocation. Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) called the bill un-American. He correctly noted that “Democrats fight for everyone except the American people.”
I think he spoke for many of us.
This bill is un-American.
This bill defunds law enforcement and gives their funding to the communities harboring criminal illegal aliens.
Democrats fight for everyone except the American people. https://t.co/CiVuDA95iv
— Senator Jim Banks (@SenatorBanks) September 18, 2026
As stated in the full text of this legislation, its purpose is “to establish a Federal grant program to reimburse certain States for the costs incurred and damage caused by widespread deployment of Federal immigration officials, and for other purposes.”
Conspicuously absent from the bill are any remedies for American citizens who’ve been killed or injured by the same illegal aliens Democrats are working so hard to protect. Nor is there any mention of reimbursement to U.S. taxpayers for the billions of dollars lost to fraud schemes perpetrated by illegal aliens.
Above all, the bill fails to acknowledge the obvious: ICE agents were enforcing federal immigration laws enacted by Congress. Had Democrats not encouraged activists to take their protest to such extremes and had local governments not worked so aggressively to obstruct federal enforcement efforts, the damage to local economies would have been minimal. Better yet, had local authorities simply notified ICE before releasing illegal aliens subject to detainers — which, by the way, is the law — there would have been no damage at all.
The bill has little chance of passing as long as Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. But once Democrats return to power, all bets are off.
The Make ICE Pay Act represents a fundamental reversal of federal immigration priorities: It would take funding Congress approved for enforcement and transfer it to jurisdictions and organizations that have thwarted law enforcement. Omar calls that accountability; the sane among us see it as rewarding illegal actions.
⛔️Here’s what happens when you enter other countries illegally
– Singapore, that’s 6 months in prison
– If you enter illegally, Russia, that’s 2 years in labor camp
– India, that’s 8 years in prison
– Pakistan, 10 years in prison
– North Korea, obviously death penalty
– And… pic.twitter.com/CJHvrUYBKt— Major Anthony Jones (@majorbrainpain) September 21, 2026
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