Disagreements over Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund delay the ICE budget vote

Everything, it seems, has a limit. The nearly $1.8 billion public fund that the Donald Trump administration plans to create to distribute to its allies has even shocked lawmakers who until now had been staunchly loyal to him. So much so that Republican leaders in the Senate have scrapped plans to vote this week on the bill that would allocate billions in additional funding to immigration agencies (including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE), because of deep disagreements over the multimillion-dollar compensation fund for Trump supporters “persecuted” by the justice system during Joe Biden’s administration.

Senate Republican majority leader John Thune had planned to bring the bill to the upper chamber for a vote and then send it to the House of Representatives before next Monday, when the United States observes Memorial Day, the day of remembrance for those who died in war. But a lunch had been arranged beforehand between the party’s senators and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss the fund that Democratic opponents — and some Republicans — call a “slush fund.”

Blanche, who arrived at the Justice Department after serving as Trump’s personal lawyer during the legal proceedings brought against the now-president after his 2020 election defeat, faced a torrent of questions about the fund, which the White House describes as a tool “a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” Others, like California Governor Gavin Newsom, call it “a full-on criminal enterprise.”

According to senators who attended the meeting, they left that lunch with even more questions than they had brought about the new funding package: who the beneficiaries would be, how the money would be disbursed, and who would have the authority to decide who qualifies for it. Faced with deep divisions within the Republican caucus over the fund, party leaders decided to postpone the vote they had planned. The new allocations for ICE will have to wait: Congress has now entered a recess period, and lawmakers have returned to their home districts. They will not be able to meet the deadline Trump had demanded to approve the new budget for immigration agencies before June 1.

Everything about the fund is, at the very least, striking. It is endowed with $1.776 billion (a figure chosen because it matches the year of U.S. independence, whose 250th anniversary is being commemorated this year). Its origin stems from an unusual situation: Trump had filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of one of his annual tax returns. The president, who, unlike his predecessors, has never voluntarily released his financial records, was seeking $10 billion in damages from the federal agency — his own government.

Earlier this week, the White House confirmed that the president withdrew that unusual lawsuit, in which both prosecutors and government lawyers ultimately reported to him. In exchange, Trump secured a commitment from the IRS never to audit him or his family members again — neither now nor in the future. And the creation of the compensation fund for supposed victims of judicial bias was announced.

So far, there is no list of who will receive this public money. But it is widely assumed that many, if not all, of those accused of taking part in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will be among the beneficiaries. That day, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the seat of the legislative branch in an attempt to stop certification of Biden’s victory in the election held three months earlier and keep Trump in power. On his first day back in the White House, the president pardoned 1,500 of them.

The White House stresses that the fund carries no partisan restrictions: anyone who feels wronged — and can demonstrate harm in the eyes of the Republican administration — may apply. The fund will expire on December 15, 2028, when Trump will already be a lame‑duck president and the winner of that year’s election will be preparing to take office.

A five‑member commission will decide who can receive money from the fund. But it remains unclear who those five people will be or what criteria will be used to select them. “I have no idea,” Blanche admitted during a Senate hearing on Tuesday. It has been stipulated, however, that Trump may dismiss them at any time and that they will not receive a salary for their work, though they will be compensated through per diems, administrative services, staff expenses, travel, and other necessary support, according to the Justice Department. Neither the president nor his family members may benefit from the fund.

“This is about seeking accountability for all Americans who were victims of lawfare and weaponization: millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at schoolboards, senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on,” reads a Justice Department fact sheet.

Speaking after Thursday’s lunch with Blanche, several attendees sharply criticized the project. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said nobody tiptoed around the issue during the meeting. “The White House dropped a bomb in the middle of a pretty well-planned-out reconciliation [bill] to help deliver on one of President Trump’s priorities,” said Murkowski.

“They [The White House] need to help with this issue, because we have a lot of members who are concerned” about the new fund, Thune acknowledged to reporters.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, together with Sen. Ron Wyden of his party, introduced a bill that, if passed, would require beneficiaries of the fund to pay 100% tax on the amounts received. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Mike Thompson has proposed a similar measure.

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