WASHINGTON — The Democrat in line to control the money for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the agency is not going anywhere. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and the lawmaker poised to chair it when Democrats take the House majority in January, told Fox News Digital in an interview published on Monday, November 9, that he opposes defunding ICE — even as “Abolish ICE” becomes a rallying cry for more than a dozen progressive Democrats elected or re-elected in last week's midterms. “I don't believe in defunding ICE and I think the majority of the Democrats do not believe defunding ICE, but there are serious rail guards we need put on ICE,” Cuellar said.
Source: Fox News Digital, via The New York Ledger, Nov 9, 2026
Cuellar represents a South Texas border district that includes Laredo, where the Border Patrol has a major presence, and he has spent years breaking with his own party on enforcement. He described the newly elected Democratic Socialists of America members of Congress as “one part of the spectrum” of the party, and pointed to “blue dog” Democrats like himself who value strong border and immigration policies. He also warned his party against returning to the Biden administration's border approach: “We just can't open up the border and just say anybody that wants to claim asylum can come to the borders. That policy under Biden administration — I hope that every Democrat running for national office doesn't do that anymore.” “The Biden Administration had it wrong,” he said.
Why this voice matters now
Cuellar is not a backbencher sounding off. The Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee helps set ICE's funding, and when the new Congress convenes in January 2027 its gavel is expected to pass from Republicans to Democrats — putting Cuellar in charge of the panel that writes the agency's cheque. Democrats won control of the House in the November 3, 2026 midterms; until January, Republicans retain control of both chambers, and Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune remain in their posts. What the incoming chairman rules out — defunding — and what he promises instead — oversight and “rail guards” — is therefore the clearest early map of what the new majority actually intends to do about the most contentious agency in Washington.
His own record shows the split he is describing. In January, Cuellar voted with Republicans to approve a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that included billions for ICE. He later opposed a $70 billion Republican-backed enforcement package over oversight concerns. He has repeatedly criticised ICE for pursuing immigrants without criminal records, even though federal law allows the agency to arrest people for civil immigration violations, and he has argued that enforcement aimed at people such as nuns, pastors and Dreamers is not normal — a criticism he linked to the Democratic wave in Texas, which he attributed in part to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics.
The money problem for the new majority
The reason oversight, not defunding, is the realistic argument is arithmetic, as NPR reported on Monday. ICE is the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the United States: Congress essentially gave immigration enforcement a blank cheque in 2025, and in 2026 awarded ICE and Customs and Border Protection around $240 billion — enough, NPR noted, to run the mass deportation operation for the remainder of President Donald Trump's term. Congress could claw that money back, but only by passing legislation rescinding it or limiting how it can be used — and Trump, who after the midterms said he would welcome the nickname “Mr. Veto,” would have to sign it or be overridden. An earlier law separately provided nearly $70 billion in additional funding for ICE, CBP and DHS, available through September 30, 2029, so simply refusing to pass a new annual spending bill would not cut the agency off.
Source: NPR, via WHRO, Nov 9, 2026
That leaves the tools Cuellar is pointing to. Representative Robert Garcia of California, set to become chair of the House Oversight Committee, told Republicans on Election Day: “Lawyer up.” Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, likely to chair the House Homeland Security Committee, said: “We have to rein ICE in because its illegal, out-of-control activities (have) killed individuals … assaulted individuals … have incarcerated individuals. That system has to have accountability for the men and women who work in it.” Thompson said he would like to legally require body-worn cameras for federal immigration agents and ban them from wearing face coverings. Naureen Shah of the ACLU told NPR that congressional oversight through subpoenas may be the most powerful lever of all: “ICE has to be afraid. They have to be afraid of losing their funding, they have to be afraid of being subpoenaed and asked extremely hard questions before a live audience of the American people.”
What is solid
- Cuellar told Fox News Digital he does not believe in defunding ICE, believes most Democrats agree, and wants “serious rail guards” on the agency
- Cuellar is the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and is poised to chair it when the new Congress is seated in January 2027
- He voted with Republicans in January for a DHS funding bill including billions for ICE, and later opposed a $70 billion Republican-backed package over oversight concerns
- NPR reports ICE and CBP were awarded around $240 billion in 2025 and 2026, and that restricting the money would require new legislation
What is only claimed
- The White House figures Cuellar's interview was reported alongside — more than 1.3 million arrests and 1.2 million people deported or leaving the country — are administration claims, not independently verified in this report
- How far the incoming majority will actually go — abolition advocates demand defunding, while the incoming funding chairman rules it out; no bill text exists yet
Cuellar's own line: sheriffs report, ICE enforces
On the ground in Texas, Cuellar drew a narrower line for local police than the one his state has been moving toward. ICE's partnerships with Texas authorities have expanded through 287(g) agreements, which let local officers assist with immigration enforcement, jail screening and administrative warrants, and Texas law now requires most county sheriffs to seek these agreements. Cuellar said the local role should stop earlier: “I think the local sheriff should report somebody that's there illegally. I think that's it. But anything beyond that, I think we need to have a discussion.” The distinction matters to immigrant communities across Texas — including the Punjabi diaspora concentrated in Houston and Dallas — because it is the difference between a traffic stop that ends with a citation and one that ends with a call to federal immigration authorities.
Texas is changing around him
Cuellar spoke days after a political earthquake in his own state. Texans elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa as governor — the state's first Latina governor — unseating Republican Greg Abbott, and, as NPR reported, elected the state's first Democratic U.S. senator in nearly 40 years and flipped the Texas House. Counties along the U.S.-Mexico border flipped Democratic after supporting Trump in 2024, and immigration was one of the top issues in exit polling. Hinojosa, who is from Brownsville on the border, has sharply criticised ICE's tactics and Abbott's Operation Lone Star border operation, but she has never called for ending all cooperation with ICE. “I haven't heard her say that she supports the defunding ICE. I don't think she has said that,” Cuellar said. In Houston, Mayor John Whitmire has already moved to limit his police department's cooperation with ICE — a step Awaaz Punjab reported when the order was issued on November 6. Cuellar also criticised Abbott's handling of Operation Lone Star, pointing to the January 2024 standoff in Eagle Pass, where Texas authorities seized Shelby Park and restricted Border Patrol's access: “You still got to work with border patrol, regardless if it's a Democrat or Republican at the White House itself.”
The administration's answer
The Trump administration is signalling no retreat. The day after the midterms, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin posted three words: “Deportations will continue.” On Friday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — the architect of the administration's hard-line immigration agenda — was promoted to chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said in a statement to Fox News Digital: “Our mission is simple and non-negotiable: secure the border, protect American lives, and control everything and everyone coming into this country. We are focused on getting the job done and enthusiastically partner with any official dedicated to achieving that goal.” Cuellar, for his part, says a deal is possible if both sides want one: “There are Democrats who are willing to work with the administration, with President Trump, but it takes two to have a deal.”
For Punjabi and other immigrant families in the United States, the fight over ICE's money is not abstract. It decides how often enforcement turns up at workplaces, courthouses and traffic stops, what local police may pass to federal agents, and whether agents must wear body cameras and show their faces. The incoming funding chairman has now said the money itself is not on the table — the conditions attached to it are.
What happens next
Congress returns for a lame-duck session with Republicans still in control, and the first immigration fights of the new era will be procedural: oversight letters, subpoena threats and the conditions Democrats try to attach to future funding bills when they take the gavels in January. Detention is likely to be an early battleground — the day after the midterms, the two big private detention companies that contract for ICE, CoreCivic and the GEO Group, faced the same question from investors on their earnings calls: how will the results affect ICE operations? CoreCivic's president told investors ICE has the secure funding to keep increasing enforcement activity, and urged the agency to move quickly on detention capacity. Awaaz Punjab will update this report when the first oversight demands are issued, when Cuellar's subcommittee organises in January, or if the White House responds to his remarks.