Reconciliation Spending Bill: Reckless Immigration Enforcement Funding and Cuts to Legal Immigration

On May 21, 2025, the House passed a massive spending bill that will fundamentally transform American society. This bill is part of a budget process called “reconciliation,” where only majorities in both chambers are needed for passage (avoiding the possibility of a 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate). The bill is now being considered by the Senate.  The reconciliation package cuts billions from essential American programs and simultaneously supercharges immigration enforcement by allocating $70 billion to expand arrests and detention and over $50 billion for the construction of border walls. It also imposes astronomically high mandatory fees for applications for immigration protections and benefits, including asylum — making them effectively inaccessible to thousands of people. In the past few months, we’ve seen ICE target students, day laborers, breast-feeding mothers, and our neighbors for arrests in our communities. ICE has violated due process and the Trump administration has ignored court orders in at least three immigration-related lawsuits, all to meet arbitrary deportation quotas. Join us to discuss how the reconciliation bill would intensify and expand this aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, further goals of mass deportation, and make significant changes to immigration policy. Speakers:

• Adriel Orozco, Senior Policy Counsel, American Immigration Council
• Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Senior Fellow, American Immigration Council
• Jason P. Houser, Chief of Staff 2021-2023, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Moderator: Nayna Gupta, Policy Director, American Immigration Council