Sen. Kim Introduces Bills to Block Federal Funding for Migrant Detention Facilities

Sen. Andy Kim introduced three bills Thursday aimed at restricting the Trump administration’s use of taxpayer funds for immigrant detention, including plans to convert warehouses into holding facilities.

The legislation targets a $45 billion national expansion of detention facilities by the Department of Homeland Security, according to Kim’s office. One planned facility would be located in Roxbury, Morris County.

Kim, a Democrat, told the New Jersey Monitor that his bills seek to stop an “out-of-control DHS” that operates without community input or accountability.

“ICE doesn’t care about what the local community thinks. They don’t care about what Congress thinks. They feel like they are completely in their right to just do whatever they want, because this Trump administration has given them that kind of green light,” Kim said, according to the Monitor.

The proposed legislation comes as Department of Homeland Security funding expired last week, leaving lawmakers in a standoff over appropriations. Kim cited growing public concern over the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, which have included violent clashes, masked agents, and arrests at schools and courthouses. As a recent Stockton Poll demonstrated, these concerns align with broader New Jersey sentiment, with two-thirds of voters saying immigration enforcement has gone too far.

“I’m not going to fund ICE one dollar more. That’s why we are in these deadlock negotiations about this DHS shutdown — because the American people don’t stand for this level of lawlessness,” Kim told the Monitor.

The three bills would impose specific restrictions on federal immigration operations. The first measure would bar the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing or using warehouses for immigrant detention with money from the budget reconciliation bill President Donald Trump signed last July. Sen. Cory Booker serves as co-sponsor of this legislation.

“I have walked through one of these warehouses and seen firsthand how these facilities are no place for human beings,” Booker said in a statement, according to the Monitor.

The second bill would prohibit the department from hiring additional immigration agents using funds from the budget bill. The third measure would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight to audit new and existing ICE facilities, ban new admissions until deficiencies are corrected, and mandate reporting of audit findings to Congress.

According to the Washington Post, the department plans to convert 23 warehouses into migrant detention facilities that would collectively hold nearly 100,000 detainees.

Kim said Republican senators have expressed concerns about Homeland Security officials opening migrant detention facilities in warehouses in their states, despite his party’s minority status in Congress.

“They don’t want them there, and so I’m trying to build this bipartisan coalition of senators to say, look, this isn’t about partisanship. This is about our own communities, and how you cannot impose this upon our constituents,” Kim told the Monitor.

Local opposition has emerged in affected communities. Republican officials in Roxbury expressed frustration last week that federal authorities excluded them from decision-making when purchasing a warehouse on Route 46 for migrant processing, according to the Monitor. Township officials argued the federal detention facility would cost Morris County millions in lost property taxes and strain utilities, public safety personnel, and infrastructure.

Kim visited the Roxbury warehouse site to assess the planned facility’s impact on the community. The senator’s office did not receive a response from Homeland Security spokespeople regarding the proposed legislation.

The bills represent Democrats’ latest effort to challenge the administration’s immigration policies through congressional funding restrictions. With Republicans controlling both Congress and the White House, Kim faces significant obstacles in advancing the measures, though he expressed optimism about building bipartisan support based on local community concerns.