Congressional Republicans slipped a provision into their budget passed Thursday that would hand out billions of dollars to pay for things like Texas Gov. Greg Abbot’s immigrant busing initiative and state-funded border wall.
An amendment to the House budget, passed Wednesday night, sets aside $12 billion for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to allocate to states, specifically to pay for programs the Trump administration considers supportive of its border security mission. The provision makes the money available to reimburse states for any costs related to aiding the effort "to enforce the immigration laws, including through detention and removal, and to combat the unlawful entry of persons and contraband."
