[UPDATED 2026] Democrats Called Them Nazis. Trump Just Gave ICE $70 Billion — Here’s What These Heroes Actually Do

James Thornton  |  June 13, 2026

ICE agents rescue trafficking victims, intercept fentanyl that would kill your neighbors, and dismantle criminal cartels — and Democrats want to abolish them. President Trump stood at the signing ceremony and said what no Democrat would dare say: the men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are “heroes of ICE and border patrol.” Then he signed the funding that backed up those words. Seventy billion dollars for ICE and Customs and Border Protection — the largest law enforcement funding package in American history — secured through the end of his term. While Democrats spent years comparing these agents to Nazis, demanding their abolition, and blocking the funding they need, Trump delivered. One side demonizes. The other funds, equips, and honors the people who keep your family safe.

What ICE Agents Actually Do Every Day (The Media Won’t Tell You)

The public image of ICE has been distorted beyond recognition by years of political propaganda and media malpractice. What the average American sees on cable news is a caricature: jackbooted agents kicking in doors and tearing families apart. What ICE agents actually do every day is far different, far more dangerous, and far more important than the political class wants you to know.

ICE operates through two primary divisions. Enforcement and Removal Operations handles the identification, arrest, and removal of individuals in the United States illegally, with a priority focus on those who pose threats to public safety or national security. Homeland Security Investigations serves as the principal investigative arm, responsible for dismantling transnational criminal organizations involved in human trafficking, drug smuggling, weapons proliferation, child exploitation, and financial crimes.

HSI agents fight on the front lines against human trafficking. According to ICE’s own reporting, Homeland Security Investigations initiated thousands of human trafficking cases, resulting in the rescue of victims — many of them children — exploited by criminal networks operating both inside and outside the United States. These are not abstract statistics. These are real children pulled out of real horror by agents who risk their lives to do it.

ICE agents intercept fentanyl shipments that would otherwise kill Americans by the thousands. They dismantle MS-13 cells that terrorize immigrant communities. They investigate child sexual exploitation material and bring predators to justice. They work counterterrorism cases in coordination with the FBI and the intelligence community. They enforce sanctions and export controls that prevent hostile nations from acquiring sensitive technology. The scope of their mission is staggering — and they execute it every day under conditions that would break most people.

These agents work long hours in dangerous environments. They face threats from the cartels they dismantle. They operate in communities where local politicians have declared them unwelcome and ordered police departments not to cooperate. They do all of this for government salaries while members of Congress who have never spent a single day on the front lines of law enforcement call them fascists.

The Democrat War on Your Border Security

The Democratic Party’s campaign against ICE ranks among the most cynical political operations in modern American history. It began in earnest during the first Trump administration, when “Abolish ICE” became a rallying cry for the progressive left. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and other prominent Democrats openly called for eliminating the agency. They compared detention facilities to concentration camps. They accused agents of running “a deportation force” — as though enforcing the law were an act of cruelty rather than a constitutional obligation.

The rhetoric had real consequences. In Minneapolis, after an incident in which two U.S. citizens died during an enforcement operation, Democrats seized the moment to block ICE funding entirely. Rather than investigating the specific circumstances, Democratic leaders weaponized the tragedy to undermine the entire enforcement mission. Democratic officials advocated for 700 ICE agents to leave Minnesota — demanding that federal law enforcement withdraw from an American state. The message was unmistakable: immigration enforcement is not welcome here.

Sanctuary city policies, enacted by Democratic mayors and city councils across the country, formalized the obstruction. These policies prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE detainers. When ICE identifies a criminal illegal alien in local custody and requests that the individual be held for transfer, the local jurisdiction releases that individual back into your community instead. The result is predictable and documented: criminal aliens released under sanctuary policies have gone on to commit additional crimes, including violent offenses, against the very communities those policies claimed to protect.

The Democrats’ position requires a level of cognitive dissonance that borders on the absurd. They claim to support law enforcement while calling for the abolition of a federal law enforcement agency. They claim to care about immigrant communities while blocking the agents who rescue trafficking victims from those communities. They claim to oppose the drug crisis while obstructing the investigators who intercept fentanyl shipments. The contradiction is not subtle. It is the defining hypocrisy of the modern Democratic Party on immigration.

What $70 Billion in Funding Actually Delivers

The $70 billion funding package signed by President Trump covers both ICE and Customs and Border Protection through the end of his term. This is not a continuing resolution. Not a stopgap measure. It is a full, dedicated funding commitment that gives these agencies the resources they need without the constant threat of budget brinkmanship that has hampered enforcement for years.

The funding delivers additional personnel. ICE and CBP have operated understaffed for years, with agents stretched thin across an expanding mission. The new funding authorizes hiring thousands of additional agents, investigators, and support staff. It provides increased detention capacity, addressing the revolving door that released detained individuals back into the interior due to lack of bed space. It funds technology upgrades — surveillance systems, data analytics platforms, and communications equipment — that will sharpen the agencies’ ability to identify, track, and apprehend threats.

For CBP specifically, the funding accelerates border wall construction, deploys additional sensors and drone technology along the southern border, and increases staffing at ports of entry where the majority of drug seizures occur. It funds the processing infrastructure needed to handle asylum claims efficiently, reducing the backlogs that cartels and traffickers exploit to game the system.

For HSI, the funding expands capacity to investigate transnational criminal organizations, child exploitation networks, and cyber-enabled crimes. It provides resources for the Victim Assistance Program, which supports individuals — many of them women and children — rescued from trafficking operations. It funds international partnerships that allow HSI to disrupt criminal networks at their source, before they reach American borders.

The $70 billion is more than a budget line. It is a statement of national priority. It tells every ICE agent and every CBP officer that the President of the United States has their back — not just with words at a podium, but with the resources to do their jobs safely and effectively.

Bottom Line

The men and women of ICE and Border Patrol do not deserve the slander they have endured from the Democratic Party and its media allies. They rescue trafficking victims. They intercept deadly drugs headed for your community. They dismantle criminal organizations. They protect American neighborhoods — including the immigrant communities Democrats claim to champion. President Trump called them heroes because that is what they are. He signed $70 billion in funding because that is what they need. Democrats blocked, obstructed, and demonized. Trump delivered. The next time a politician calls for abolishing ICE, remember what ICE actually does — and remember who funded them and who tried to destroy them. Share this with every American who deserves the truth.

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