Rep. Ilhan Omar wants to gut immigration enforcement funding and hand it to communities she says were harmed by ICE operations, a proposal conservatives are calling "un-American" and dead on arrival.
The Minnesota Democrat introduced the Make ICE Pay Act, legislation that would redirect nearly $140 billion in Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol funding from President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act toward what Omar's office describes as "local recovery efforts." The bill would funnel money through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to nonprofits, small businesses, schools, healthcare providers, and other entities Omar claims were damaged by federal enforcement operations, Fox News Digital reported.
Omar framed the legislation as a direct response to "Operation Metro Surge," an ICE enforcement operation in her home state of Minnesota. In a press release, she described the bill as a way to hold the federal government accountable for what she called DHS's operations in communities across the country. The program would be overseen by HUD's inspector general and would expire three years after its creation.
Put plainly: Omar wants to take money Congress approved for border security and immigration enforcement and hand it to groups in communities where illegal immigrants were arrested.
The backlash was immediate. Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana 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 was equally blunt in her response on X:
"Defund ICE. Weaken the border. Then expect safer communities? That math isn't mathing."
John Nagel, the Republican challenging Omar for Minnesota's 5th Congressional District this November, posted that Omar's "entire existence is on crippling the United States," adding that she is "anti-police and pro communism." The conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok called the bill "the definition of America last" and wrote: "Denaturalize and deport."
Omar, for her part, posted on X that "ICE has been tearing through our nation, devastating our neighborhoods, our cities, and our businesses," adding that her bill "will redirect ICE's $140 billion budget to the communities they've hurt the most."
The dollar figures Omar and her office have attached to the legislation shift depending on where you look. The Fox News report describes the bill as redirecting "over $100 billion" in enforcement funding. Omar's press release puts the number at "nearly $140 billion" from ICE and Border Patrol allocations under Trump's signature legislation. And Omar's own post on X rounds it to a flat "$140 billion budget" for ICE alone.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed, was described as a $70 billion measure to fund ICE and CBP through 2029. How Omar arrives at a figure nearly double that amount is not explained in her press release or public statements. Fox News Digital reached out to Omar's office for comment but reported no response.
The bill has no realistic path forward. Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. Omar is proposing to defund agencies that the current administration has made the centerpiece of its domestic enforcement agenda. The legislation reads less like a serious policy proposal and more like a messaging exercise, one designed to signal opposition to ICE at a moment when the agency is carrying out operations the administration has publicly championed.
The timing of the bill is notable for another reason. White House border czar Tom Homan confirmed to Fox News that ICE is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation involving Omar herself. Homan did not disclose specifics but confirmed the probe is active.
"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."
The investigation centers on longstanding allegations that Omar married her brother as part of an immigration scheme. Omar has repeatedly denied those claims. In December, she dismissed them as "bigoted lies" on social media and said Trump was "obsessed with her." Homan declined to confirm whether the federal government has evidence that Omar committed immigration or naturalization fraud.
The DHS investigation into Omar's immigration history has been a subject of sustained public interest, and federal agencies have not been forthcoming with details. ICE has separately withheld records related to the probe, citing active enforcement proceedings.
Consider the sequence. A sitting member of Congress is under active criminal investigation by ICE. That same member of Congress introduces legislation to strip ICE of its funding and redirect the money elsewhere. She frames it as justice for communities affected by enforcement operations. Critics see something different: a lawmaker trying to kneecap the agency that is looking into her own conduct.
Omar's press release describes ICE operations as damaging to neighborhoods and businesses. Her bill would send federal dollars to nonprofits, small businesses, schools, healthcare providers, and entities offering psychological services. It would also fund "memorialization efforts" and cover increased local-government expenses, all administered by HUD, not by any law enforcement body.
Nothing in the bill addresses the people ICE arrested or the charges they face. Nothing addresses the legal residents and citizens who called for enforcement in the first place. The money flows in one direction: away from the agents enforcing immigration law and toward the communities where illegal immigrants lived before they were removed.
Omar has faced a string of controversies beyond the federal probe. She dodged questions after police raided her son's apartment and seized firearms, another episode that drew national attention to the gap between her public stance on law enforcement and the legal troubles surrounding her own family.
On January 13, 2026, Omar appeared at a news conference with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus at the Capitol Visitor Center, focused on DHS funding and accountability. Three days later, on January 16, she attended a field hearing at the Minnesota Senate Building in St. Paul. The hearing carried the title "Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump's Deadly Assault on Minnesota", a characterization of routine immigration enforcement that tells you everything about how Omar and her allies view the issue.
The Make ICE Pay Act will not become law. Every serious observer understands that. But the bill is still worth paying attention to, not for what it will accomplish, but for what it reveals about the priorities of a certain wing of the Democratic Party.
When ICE conducts enforcement operations against illegal immigrants, Omar's instinct is not to ask whether the operations were lawful or whether the people arrested had criminal records. Her instinct is to punish the agency. Strip its budget. Redirect the money to groups that, in Sen. Banks's words, are "harboring criminal illegal aliens." And wrap the whole thing in the language of community healing and accountability.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a separate Fox News segment, called out Democrats for attempting to defund border protection, highlighting sanctuary cities and the arrest of illegal immigrants with felony charges. He emphasized a zero-tolerance approach, the precise opposite of what Omar's bill envisions.
Omar represents a district. She also represents a mindset: that enforcement is the problem, that the agents are the villains, and that the people who broke the law to enter the country are the victims who deserve federal dollars.
Taxpayers watching a congresswoman under federal investigation try to defund the investigators don't need anyone to explain the contradiction. They can see it just fine.
