Moving forward, I encourage my Republican colleagues to abandon their partisan agenda and work with Democrats to create substantial reforms to our country’s immigration enforcement.
Will work with Democrats to create substantial reforms to U.S. immigration enforcement.
Occurrences
But because we would not vote to fund those two agencies until we have some agreement on how they are going to correctly and constitutionally perform their duties
Evidence
The White House said the Secure America Act fully funds ICE and Border Patrol through President Trump’s term and provides the resources to secure the border, combat trafficking, stop drugs, dismantle cartels, and enforce immigration laws. The release frames the measure as ending months of Democratic obstruction rather than adopting enforcement reforms.
The article says the Secure America Act advanced on a party-line Senate vote after Republicans dropped a ballroom funding add-on, but Democrats had demanded codified reforms to federal agents’ tactics and practices and those negotiations broke down. The piece says the compromise that survived still focused on funding ICE and Border Patrol through the rest of Trump’s term.
The report says Trump signed the Secure America Act after the House passed it 214-212, giving ICE, CBP, and DHS long-term funding through 2029. It also notes that Democrats’ attempts to negotiate changes to federal immigration enforcement practices were unsuccessful and that the resulting law provided a large enforcement funding package rather than reforms.
Roll Call 23, S. 5, Laken Riley Act: Status Passed, 263 yeas, 156 nays; Hoyer, Democratic, Maryland, Nay.
The Act requires DHS to take custody of aliens charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admitting burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, assault, or serious-injury crimes.
The Secure America Act fully funds ICE and Border Patrol through President Trump’s term and provides resources to enforce immigration laws.
Democrats failed to secure concessions such as judicial warrants for ICE/CBP arrests and universal body camera policies.
Assessments
The promised outcome was substantial Democratic reform of federal immigration enforcement. The cited same-term federal actions instead expanded mandatory detention through the Laken Riley Act and later provided long-term ICE, CBP, and DHS enforcement funding through the Secure America Act. Reporting indicates Democrats sought reforms such as warrants, body cameras, identification rules, and limits on tactics, but those concessions were not enacted. Hoyer voted against the Laken Riley Act, but the record provided does not show that he personally sponsored or materially advanced a serious reform vehicle that failed, so this is a failed-delivery finding without an effort badge.
The available evidence shows no substantial reform to U.S. immigration enforcement was enacted. Instead, the concrete outcome was the 2026 Secure America Act, which emphasized long-term funding for ICE, CBP, and broader enforcement operations rather than reforming enforcement practices. Democrats sought reform concessions during negotiations, but those efforts failed and the enacted measure did not deliver the promised reform outcome. There is also no evidence here that Hoyer personally wrote, sponsored, or materially advanced a successful reform package that later became law, so full or partial delivery is not supported.