Bennet, Cortez Masto, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Redirect Excess ICE Funding to Local Police

Jan 14, 2026| Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) joined U.S. Senator Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) to introduce The Providing Useful Budgets for Localities to Invest in Cops by Substituting Appropriations from Federal Enforcement To Yield Results (PUBLIC SAFETY) Act, legislation to redirect nearly $75 billion in funding passed in the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and send it instead to local law enforcement programs to help hire and train 200,000 local police officers in communities across the country.

"President Trump's reckless weaponization of ICE is making our cities less safe and endangering people simply trying to lead their lives," said Bennet. "Deploying underprepared, unvetted agents is counterproductive. Local police officers have a deeper, more direct understanding of their communities and can address local needs."

"The Trump Administration's actions are not making our communities any safer, in fact they're doing just the opposite," said Cortez Masto. "Instead of giving ICE $75 billion extra dollars to hire untrained ICE agents to patrol American communities, let's invest that money where it will actually help - in hiring local police officers who are trained to fight crime in a way that earns community trust."

The Trump Administration's immigration policies are making America less safe. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Kristi Noem, is putting thousands of unprepared and undertrained agents in communities across the nation. In the past year, ProPublica estimates that ICE has detained over 170 U.S. citizens. As of late November 2025, 73% of individuals held in ICE detention did not have a criminal conviction, and less than 5% had a violent criminal conviction. At the same time, ICE has lowered its training and hiring standards, strained already under-staffed police departments, and created more distrust of local law enforcement.

This bill prioritizes effective law enforcement by investing in local police officers who undergo thorough training and have real ties to the communities they serve. The PUBLIC SAFETY Act would:

• Reallocate $29.85 billion in OBBBA funds for ICE's enforcement and operations to the COPS Hiring Program for the hiring of over 200,000 local police officers nationwide;
• Waive the COPS Hiring Program's matching contribution requirements for small jurisdictions; and
• Redirect $45 billion in OBBBA funds designated for unnecessary and harmful additions to ICE's detention capacity to the Byrne JAG program, which provides funding to support training, crime victim assistance, and crime prevention.

This bill would not rescind ICE's regular appropriations, leaving the agency with historically normal funding levels to conduct traditional immigration enforcement operations.

A summary of the bill is available HERE.

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