Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCollum. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill fails to address the dangerous and illegal activities from DHS agents in Minnesota that we have witnessed since Operation Metro Surge began, and they are still going on.

Our neighbors were racially profiled and detained without cause. Peaceful demonstrators were threatened and harassed, and continue to be. American citizens were assaulted and kidnapped from their homes and even killed in our streets.

Democrats are calling for commonsense reforms that protect our communities and our rights. We want ICE and Border Patrol agents to follow the same rules as our local law enforcement: Identify yourself, use your body camera, get a real judicial warrant when you enter a home, and establish a policy clearly for use of force.

When DHS agents engage in illegal or dangerous behavior, we want independent investigations to hold them accountable.

I will not vote for more funding for ICE or CBP until this Congress includes those reforms, period. Republicans should allow a vote on Ranking Member DeLauro's bill that would separate ICE, Border Patrol, and Secretary Noem's office while we negotiate real reforms. It would fund the law-abiding components of DHS, like the Coast Guard, FEMA, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, known as CISA.

CISA works to protect our critical infrastructure, our emergency communications, and our election systems. In Minnesota, we learned that the hard way when St. Paul suffered a major cyberattack last summer. It took us weeks to recover.

I am puzzled why Republicans in this bill would cut $268 million from CISA. We should be increasing money for cybersecurity, not reducing it, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

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