Senate Republicans greenlight ICE and CBP budget blueprint after overnight vote-a-rama
U.S. Capitol (Getty/Andrey Denisyuk)
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans approved early on Thursday a blueprint for their budget bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection after an all-night voting marathon.
The budget resolution, which kicks off the drafting process of a bill that Republicans said would provide billions to ICE and CBP, was approved by a vote of 50-48. It needed a simple majority of votes to be approved.
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Rand Paul, of Kentucky, joined with the Democrats in voting against the resolution. All other Republicans voted in favor of it.
The Senate approved the resolution at about 3:36 a.m. after a vote-a-rama that lasted approximately 6 hours.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, after speaking in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Renaud Philippe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump rescinded an invitation for Canada to join his newly-formed “Board of Peace” amid his escalating feud with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The move, which Trump announced late Thursday in a social media post, came after Carney’s headline-making speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he warned the rules-based international order largely steered by American hegemony was in the midst of a “rupture.”
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump posted online as he returned to Washington from Switzerland.
Trump hosted a signing ceremony for his Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum earlier this week. More than two dozen countries have signed on so far, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, though notably none of the U.S.’s major European allies have done so. France, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom have either declined the invitation or expressed significant reservations about the board. The Vatican said Pope Leo, the first American pope, has been asked to join the board and is evaluating the invitation.
Carney, in his address to the gathering of government officials and business leaders, called on middle powers to come together to avoid falling victim to coercion from larger and more powerful nations.
“Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said.
Carney added, “We shouldn’t allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong, if we choose to wield them together.”
The Canadian leader, without explicitly mentioning Trump by name, also directly criticized the U.S. threat of tariffs for U.S. allies that opposed Trump’s aim to acquire Greenland and made clear Canada’s support for the Danish territory’s sovereignty.
President Trump, the next day, swiped at Carney’s remarks and said the U.S.’s northern neighbor should be “grateful.”
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us. By the way, they should be grateful also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful. They should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” Trump said in his WEF speech.
Carney pushed back on Trump in remarks delivered in Quebec City on Thursday.
“Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security, and in rich cultural exchange,” Carney said. “But Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Tensions have flared between Trump and Carney for months over tariffs and over Trump’s repeated calls since his return to office to have Canada become the 51st state of the U.S.
Travelers wait in a TSA screening line at Orlando International Airport on March 22, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he’s sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to U.S. airports to assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
“On Monday, ICE will be going to airports to help our wonderful TSA Agents who have stayed on the job despite the fact that the Radical Left Democrats, who are only focused on protecting hard line criminals who have entered our Country illegally, are endangering the USA by holding back the money that was long ago agreed to with signed and sealed contracts, and all,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform.
On Saturday, the president said he was ready to deploy ICE agents if Democrats didn’t “immediately sign an agreement” to end the shutdown.
Trump said that operations would include immigration enforcement. It’s not currently clear what security roles, exactly, ICE agents will take on in airports.
The White House referred ABC News back to the president’s post when asked what capacity Americans can expect to see ICE operating in at airports.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said Sunday that he was working with acting ICE Administrator Todd Lyons on plans that would “free up TSA agents for specialized tasks, like passenger and bag screening” and hopes to have final details together by the end of the day.
“We’re simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don’t need their specialized expertise, such as, you know, screening through the x-ray machine, not trained on that, we won’t do that,” Homan told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non significant role, such as guarding an exit, so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker.”
Trump’s statements come after Democrats on Friday blocked legislation to reopen DHS for the fifth time since the partial shutdown began in mid-February.
Democrats have demanded changes to policy surrounding ICE and Customs and Border Protection in exchange for votes to fund all of the department. Republicans, meanwhile, have rejected Democratic efforts to fund other agencies in DHS like the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Thousands of TSA employees have now missed their first full paychecks, and travelers are facing long lines at airports around the country.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted the plan to send ICE agents to airports.
“The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or, in some instances, kill them,” Jeffries told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’ve already seen how ICE conducts itself. These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job that they have for the most part, let alone deploying them in close exposure in highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Sunday appeared to suggest that ICE agents would do more than Homan outlined, saying that ICE could be used to support airport screening.
“They run those same type of security machines at the southern border, right? Packages come through or people come through. They run similar assets,” Duffy said on ABC News’ “This Week,” adding that “even administratively they’ll be helpful.”
“But again, we have ICE agents who are trained and can provide assistance to agents,” Duffy said.
On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., also urged Democrats to agree to a funding deal.
“At some point, the Democrats are going to have to take yes for an answer. I know they think this is politically good for them. It is not,” Thune said.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has met behind closed doors with Homan throughout the week. The latest meeting concluded late Friday night.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in speech on the Senate floor on Saturday, urged Republicans to support a Democratic effort to fund TSA while other negotiations continue.
“It is unacceptable for workers and travelers and entire airports to get taken hostage in political games, but that’s what the Republicans are doing,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
“It is unacceptable to say we will only pay TSA workers if it is attached to a bill that funds ICE with no reforms, but that’s what the Republicans have been doing. Democrats want to pay TSA workers ASAP, with no strings attached,” Schumer added.
A view of the debris of a school, where many students and teachers lost their lives on the first day of the wave of attacks launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on March 5, 2026. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump said on Monday he doesn’t “know enough” about the strike on an Iranian elementary school that Iran says killed at least 168 people, including dozens of children, but that he was “willing to live” with the findings of a U.S. investigation into the incident.
A newly surfaced video appears to show a U.S.-made missile, a Tomahawk, hitting a building in Iran adjacent to the girls’ school, experts told ABC News.
Trump suggested Monday it could have been a Tomahawk fired by Iran.
“I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by, you know, it’s sold and used by other countries, you know that,” Trump said. “And whether it’s Iran, who also has some Tomahawks, they wish they had more, but, whether it’s Iran or somebody else, the fact that a Tomahawk — a Tomahawk is very generic, it’s sold to other countries. But that’s being investigated right now.”
The U.S. makes and sells Tomahawks to its closest allies, including the U.K. and Australia. But it has never sold the technology to Iran or other adversaries. While other countries like Russia use cruise missiles, only the U.S. makes Tomahawks, as the missile experts say appears to be seen in the video of the school strike.
Israel has already said it wasn’t operating in the area of the school bombing.
The president faced questions Monday on the Feb. 28 incident during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami, including his comment over the weekend that Iran was behind it.
“Based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing just behind the president on the plane, said the matter was under investigation and that “only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
But pressed on those remarks, Trump said on Monday, “I just don’t know enough about it.”
“I think it’s something that I was told is under investigation. But Tomahawks are –are used by others, as you know. Numerous other nations have Tomahawks. They buy them from us,” Trump said.
“But I will certainly, whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report,” the president continued.
The U.S. military was striking targets in the country last Saturday in an area where an elementary school was hit and dozens of children were killed, two people familiar with the initial findings previously told ABC News.
An analysis of satellite imagery by ABC News suggests the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab was near an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps compound but had been separated from it more than decade ago.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, rejected Trump’s claim that Iran was behind the hit on the girls’ elementary school.
