The Senate left for its Memorial Day holiday recess without approving the measure that provides an additional $70 billion for ICE and CBP through the conciliation process that allows approval by a simple majority and, therefore, without Democratic support. The House also recessed, as the Senate would have to consider the bill first.

It seems that there are differences among Republicans on some issues that have generated discomfort among some sectors. Among those is the $1.776 million fund announced by the Department of Justice to “compensate” Trump allies who allege that they were “persecuted” by the government of Democrat Joe Biden.

The payments would be made with public funds and among those allies are the insurrectionists from the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 who attacked Capitol and District of Columbia police officers and who, despite being convicted and imprisoned, were pardoned by Trump.

Another point of contention in the conciliation measure has been the funds for the Secret Service amid fears that the money will be diverted to the controversial ballroom that Trump wants to build in the White House and that he had said would be paid for with private funds. In fact, the media reported that those funds will be removed from the project.

Finances of undocumented immigrants in Trump's sights

The legislative controversy has in no way altered Trump's campaign to squeeze undocumented immigrants and force them to self-deport.

La Opinion reported that “Donald Trump's administration opened a new front in its immigration policy: the financial system.” “Through an executive order signed on May 19, 2026, the White House instructed the Treasury Department and regulatory agencies to tighten controls on bank accounts, credits and transfers linked to immigrants without legal authorization to work in the United States.”

The newspaper adds that “although the order does not directly prohibit remittances, it does raise new financial surveillance rules that could change the way millions of immigrants send money to their families in Latin America.”

"For now, many of the measures will still have to go through regulatory processes before coming into force. However, the message is clear: the Trump administration seeks to turn the financial system into another tool of immigration control," the newspaper concluded.

Trump increases the number of judges to speed up deportations

La Opinión also reported that “according to CBS News, 77 permanent immigration judges and five temporary judges were sworn in this week, amid pressure from the Republican government to reinforce its policy of mass deportations.”

It is assumed that this will return to the figure of 700 judges, since about 100 had been fired for not authorizing deportations at the expected rate.

The same CBS article notes that "although they are part of the executive branch, immigration judges are expected to be neutral and show no bias toward noncitizens or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys seeking their deportation. Still, the Trump administration has publicly referred to them as "deportation judges" in official job ads, urging potential candidates in one ad to "deliver justice" to "illegal aliens." criminals.”

CBS added that “Greg Chen, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, accused the Trump administration of trying to “force” immigration judges to “act as instruments of law enforcement, and not as impartial judges.”

It is estimated that the backlog in the number of cases before immigration judges is 3.5 million.

Likewise, they propose increasing the fine for deportation orders in absentia to $18,000

La Opinión reported that “President Donald Trump's administration is moving forward with a new plan to impose fines of up to $18,000 on immigrants with final deportation orders who are subsequently arrested by immigration authorities, in a measure that is part of the federal strategy to toughen immigration policy and promote self-deportation.”

“The proposal was published this week by DHS in the Federal Register and will remain open to public comments until June 22. The government seeks to raise the current fine of $5,130, established just last year, arguing that the figure no longer covers the real costs of locating, detaining and expelling an immigrant,” the newspaper indicated.

145,000 children have been separated from their parents, report reveals

An analysis by the Brookings Institution found that since Trump took office for his second term, 400,000 immigrants have been detained in the country's interior. That has impacted some 200,000 children who have lost at least one parent in the process. “Our analysis indicates that more than 145,000 US citizen children are likely to have experienced the detention of one of their parents since (Trump) took office, and that more than 22,000 of them have experienced the detention of both parents with whom they lived,” the analysis says.

La Opinión reported that “the investigation warns that the federal government does not have a clear system to track what happens to minors after their parents are arrested by agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.”

But Trump wants to receive 10,000 white South African refugees, Afrikaners, who allege discrimination

According to La Opinión, “the State Department sent an emergency notification addressed to Congress with the objective of expanding to 17,500 the maximum number of refugees it will receive this fiscal year, of which more than half would be South Africans fleeing discrimination for being white.”

“The estimate of the US authorities is that admitting the entry of these people would imply a cost close to $100 million in public funds,” the newspaper added.

“According to information released by the State Department, between October 2025 and as of last month, the Trump administration had resettled 6,069 refugees, of which 6,066 came from South Africa and the remainder from Afghanistan.”

The South African government denies allegations of discrimination and land confiscation from white Africans.

Quotes of the week:

The reaction of two Republican senators, one to Trump's plan to be granted $1 billion within the ICE and CBP budget for his ballroom, which appears to have been left out of the measure:

“People can't afford food, gas, or health care, and we're going to spend a billion dollars on a dance hall?” said Bill Cassidy, Republican senator from Louisiana.

And another to the announcement of the fund to “compensate” Trump allies who claim to have been “persecuted” by Joe Biden's government, including the insurrectionists of January 6, 2021:

"So the country's top law enforcement official is asking for a fund for illegal payments to compensate those who attack police officers? Absolute stupidity, morally unacceptable... You decide," said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky.