Sponsor
Lindsey O. Graham
Senator · R-SC
Senator · R-SC
The bill substantially boosts funding and multi-year authority to strengthen border screening, staffing, and targeted immigration enforcement (including resources for child-exploitation investigations), at the cost of large taxpayer spending and increased enforcement and surveillance that raise privacy, community trust, and civil‑liberties concerns for immigrant and border communities.
Federal border and immigration agencies (CBP, ICE, Border Patrol, HSI) receive large, multi-year appropriations through FY2029 that expand hiring, training, equipment, and operational capacity to process and enforce at the border.
People exploited or trafficked (and the investigators who serve them): $108.5 million is dedicated to hiring child exploitation investigators and forensics analysts, increasing capacity to investigate, identify, and assist victims.
Federal immigration enforcement in noncooperating jurisdictions: at least $350 million is reserved for detainer management, arrests, and transportation, enabling targeted enforcement and movement of cases where localities don't cooperate.
Immigrant communities (and families) face substantially higher risk of arrest, detention, and deportation because large enforcement appropriations and a $350M reserved pot enable more arrests and removals, including in jurisdictions that decline to cooperate.
People crossing or living near the border face expanded biometric and surveillance collection that raises privacy and civil liberties concerns from broader use of entry/exit systems and other detection technologies.
Taxpayers bear tens of billions in new federal spending for FY2026–FY2029, increasing budgetary costs and potentially crowding out other priorities or adding to deficit pressures.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Provides FY2026 multi-year appropriations to DHS (CBP, ICE, HSI) for hiring, equipment, operations, and border technologies, with targeted set-asides and program restrictions.
Provides FY2026 appropriations for Homeland Security components with multi-year availability through September 30, 2029, splitting funds between general non-immigration mission support and immigration enforcement functions. It allocates billions to CBP and ICE for hiring, training, equipment, operations and border security technology, while adding specific funding limits and prohibitions (for example, restrictions on certain autonomous surveillance tower deployments and limits on recruiting processing coordinators after a date). The bill also defines certain terms and directs dedicated funding for arrests of certain non-cooperating jurisdictions’ unlawful immigrants.
Official title: Secure America Act
Introduced May 20, 2026 by Lindsey O. Graham · Last progress June 10, 2026