WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) today released a statement after the Senate passed funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a 50-48 vote:

"The United States Congress just passed a funding bill for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without any meaningful reforms to the conduct of either. It is a shame that it took nearly four months to pass this bill, and even more of an embarrassment that this bill passed on a partisan vote after several attempts at good faith bipartisan negotiations to put in place standards of conduct across federal law enforcement agencies.

"The recent well-documented conduct of ICE has clearly and repeatedly violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments - with deeply unfortunate results. In nearly every other law enforcement agency across our nation, the standards of conduct include no masks, name and badge number identification, judicial warrants, required body cameras, training and hiring standards for sensitive locations, and no racial profiling. Maine people, as well as Minnesotans, know too well the abuses that can come from the current lack of such guidelines and restrictions.

"It was the failure to adopt any reasonable reforms that compelled me to vote against this irresponsible bill."

Senator King has been outspoken in his efforts to negotiate necessary guardrails for ICE and CBP in the wake of unprofessional and unconstitutional behavior among those agencies. In January, King appeared on Face the Nation where he explained his Constitutional concerns over how ICE was operating in Maine, as well as possible paths forward for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding package. In February, he released a statement on congressional efforts to curtail ICE's activities in Maine and across the country-again calling for the implementation of guardrails. Most recently, King called on former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for a detailed explanation and update about ICE's presence in Maine, including what their mission was and who they were targeting. When given the chance to vote for a DHS budget that funded TSA, FEMA, CISA and the Coast Guard - holding ICE and CBP funding for bipartisan negotiations - Senator King voted in favor of this approach all eleven times it was considered on the Senate floor.

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