Why Democrats have little leverage to reform ICE

About this episode

The episode discusses the funding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its implications for congressional oversight and accountability.

Most of the Department of Homeland Security has been without funding for two months, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement got billions of dollars from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We discuss how that funding insulates the agency from congressional oversight and how a proposal from congressional Republicans could further limit accountability. Plus, the significance of another failed vote to rein in the administration’s war powers. This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, immigration policy correspondent Ximena Bustillo, congressional reporter Sam Gringlas and White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben. This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and edited by Rachel Baye. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Guests: Miles Parks, Ximena Bustillo, Sam Gringlas, Danielle Kurtzleben

Topics covered

• Immigration policy
• Congressional oversight
• War powers
• Funding
• Accountability

Keywords

• ICE
• funding
• congress
• oversight
• war powers
• Republicans
• accountability

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement

More episodes of The NPR Politics Podcast

• What to make of Trump’s mixed-messages on the Iran war · June 12, 2026 · 22 min
• Primary voters reject the establishment and choose populism · June 11, 2026 · 17 min
• Trump signs law giving immigration enforcement $70 billion · June 10, 2026 · 19 min
• California counts votes slowly. Trump falsely cries fraud. · June 9, 2026 · 18 min
• Will the controversy surrounding Platner deter primary voters? · June 8, 2026 · 19 min
• Do political scandals matter anymore? · June 5, 2026 · 30 min