Rep. Ilhan Omar has introduced legislation that would gut immigration enforcement funding and funnel it to communities she says were harmed by ICE operations, a proposal conservatives from Capitol Hill to the governor's mansion are calling "un-American."
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, unveiled the Make ICE Pay Act in a press release Thursday, proposing to redirect ICE and Customs and Border Protection funding authorized under President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act toward what she described as "local recovery efforts" from immigration enforcement. The bill would route the money through states to nonprofits, small businesses, and other entities, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development administering the program and its inspector general providing oversight. The program would expire three years after its creation.
The dollar figure attached to the proposal drew immediate attention, and some confusion. Omar's own post on X put the number at "$140 billion," calling it "ICE's $140 billion budget." Her press release described the amount as "nearly $140 billion." Fox News Digital reported the figure as "over $100 billion" in its opening line before citing the higher number from Omar's materials. The discrepancy was not reconciled.
Whatever the precise figure, the proposal amounts to a demand that Congress defund the agencies responsible for enforcing immigration law and hand the money to groups Omar says suffered from that enforcement.
The backlash was swift. Sen. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, posted on X:
"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."
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders weighed in with her own post, writing on X:
"Defund ICE. Weaken the border. Then expect safer communities? That math isn't mathing."
The conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok called the proposal "the definition of America last" and added, "Denaturalize and deport." John Nagel, the Republican challenging Omar in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District this November, accused her of working to cripple the country, calling her "anti-police and pro communism."
Omar framed the legislation as a response to what she described as the damage done by Department of Homeland Security operations in her home state. She pointed specifically to "Operation Metro Surge" in Minnesota, though the details of that enforcement action were not spelled out in her public statements. On X, she wrote:
"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."
The timing of the legislation is notable for another reason. White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed to Fox News last week that DHS is looking into longstanding allegations involving Omar. He described the matter as an "ongoing criminal investigation" but declined to share specifics.
"I'm confirming that ICE is, yeah, look, I said months ago that there's something that's been reported and needs to be looked at," Homan told Fox News.
Omar has faced years of allegations that she married a man critics allege is her brother as part of an immigration scheme. She has repeatedly denied the claim. In December, she dismissed the accusations as "bigoted lies" and wrote on social media that Trump was obsessed with her. The allegations have not been proven in public records. A federal probe reportedly targeting her father's immigration paperwork has added another layer to the scrutiny.
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar's office for comment on the legislation. No response was noted in the reporting.
Congressional efforts to hold Omar accountable have extended beyond the executive branch. Rep. James Comer has pushed to release immigration-related evidence and called for a vote on expulsion. Separately, a watchdog group has pressed the House Ethics Committee to obtain Omar's financial records after the panel voted to drop its own probe.
The Make ICE Pay Act has what Fox News Digital described as a "bleak" future in Congress. Republicans control the House and Senate, and Trump recently signed a $70 billion bill to fund ICE and CBP through 2029, a move DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin highlighted while calling out Democrats for attempting to defund border protection. The administration has made clear it intends a zero-tolerance approach to immigration enforcement.
Omar's bill, then, is not serious legislation. It is a messaging vehicle. And the message is plain: a sitting member of Congress wants to take the money American taxpayers approved for immigration enforcement and hand it to communities she believes were wronged by that enforcement, communities that, in many cases, were shielding illegal immigrants from federal law.
Omar has faced scrutiny on multiple fronts in recent months. She refused to explain financial disclosures that slashed her reported net worth by millions, and she dodged questions after police found weapons in her son's apartment. Against that backdrop, the Make ICE Pay Act reads less like policy and more like provocation, an attempt to redirect attention from her own mounting legal and ethical questions toward an attack on the agencies investigating her.
Banks had it right. When a lawmaker's response to immigration enforcement is to defund the enforcers and pay the people who resisted them, the word for that isn't progressive. It's backwards.
