Collins provided the key vote to advance the Big Beautiful Bill, which provided $75 billion in new funding to ICE.
Collins voted to provide ICE with $70 billion with no strings or reforms attached, super funding an agency that had already killed multiple people including citizens and one person in Maine. When an amendment came up to force ICE agents to wear body cams, she voted against it.
Instead of the funding being used to keep people safe, the funding was being used to purchase gloves that provided painful electrical shocks and Collins refused to say if she would fight against the purchase if it went through.
After Collins’ vote to super fund ICE and after the tragic death of a father in Maine at the hands of ICE agents which spread fear among Maine’s immigrant population, Mainers protested Collins’ complicity in funding an agency that was committing acts of violence.
Collins continued to defend ICE after the murder of Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford.
Collins Was The Key Vote To Advance The One Big Beautiful Bill. According to the Hill, “Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), two key holdouts, said Saturday that they will vote to advance the Senate’s version of President Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ citing changes made to the text unveiled by GOP leaders on Friday.” [Hill, 6/28/25]
The One Big Beautiful Bill Included $75 Billion For New Funding Of ICE. According to NPR, “Republicans passed it by circumventing Democrats with a tool known as budget reconciliation. Trump called the law, which cut taxes, slashed Medicaid and eliminated clean energy tax credits, the ‘biggest bill of its type in history.’ That big bill also included $75 billion in new funding for ICE, on top of the agency's annual funding, which is usually only about $10 billion. The infusion made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency.” [NPR, 4/13/26]
HEADLINE: Collins Votes For $70B ICE Funding With No Reforms [Maine Beacon, 4/23/26]
Collins Voted To Advance A Republican Backed Plan To Provide $70 Billion In New Funding To ICE With No Reforms. According to the Maine Beacon, “Sen. Susan Collins voted Thursday to advance a Republican-backed plan to provide $70 billion in new funding for immigration enforcement agencies, despite growing disapproval from Mainers over the conduct of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The measure, which would fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection for the next three years, passed the Senate 50 to 48. ICE agents have shot and killed two protesters and been responsible for numerous deaths of people in custody over the last several months. Democrats have pushed for new guardrails on ICE and DHS, including requiring judicial warrants before agents enter private homes and aligning ICE’s operational standards with those of local law enforcement. Negotiations ultimately collapsed, leaving the funding proposal without the reforms Democrats sought.” [Maine Beacon, 4/23/26]
Collins Joined Most Of Her Republican Colleagues To Adopt A $70 Billion Plan To Fund ICE. According to WMTW, “U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined most of her Republican colleagues in the Senate by voting to adopt a $70 billion budget plan that would fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol in an effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.” [WMTW, 4/24/26]
Collins Voted Against An Amendment To The Funding That Would’ve Required ICE Agents To Wear Active Body Cameras On Duty And Have The Footage Available To Congress. According to the New Republic, “Democrats, for instance, plan to make an issue out of a little-noticed vote by Collins not long before the shooting. In early June, Collins opposed an amendment, offered by Democratic Senator Alex Padilla, that would have required ICE agents to wear active body cameras on duty and made footage available to Congress. The amendment was defeated on party lines amid passage of $70 billion in new ICE funding, which Collins voted for even though it utterly lacked guardrails against future abuses.” [New Republic, 7/23/26]
HEADLINE: ICE Plans To Give Officers Gloves That Can Deliver Painful Electric Shocks [Portland Press Herald, 8/12/26]
ICE Planned To Spend $20 Million To Purchase Gloves That Can Produce Painful Electrical Shocks. According to the Portland Press Herald, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals. ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of ‘conductive distraction and de-escalation devices’ for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.” [Portland Press Herald, 8/12/26]
Deputy Project Director Of Policing At The ACLU Claimed That The Public should Have No Confidence That The Gloves Would Be Used Correctly And Questioned Why They Were Necessary For Civil Immigration Enforcement. According to the Portland Press Herald, “Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the public should have no confidence that ICE officers will use the devices appropriately. She questioned why the devices would be necessary for civil immigration enforcement and noted those getting shocked might have no advance warning. ‘ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do,’ she said. ‘Introducing gloves that can so easily be used to deliver terrible pain in encounters is a recipe for harm to the public.’” [Portland Press Herald, 8/12/26]
Senator King Claimed That ICE Was Investing Millions Into Shock Gloves That Could Do Serious Harm “With Little Or No Transparency OR Accountability” And Called For Congressmembers to Stand Up And Demand Answers. According to the Portland Press Herald “Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, called on Congress to step up oversight of the agency. ‘Rather than have an open, good-faith conversation over methods and tactics, ICE is now investing millions (through what is reportedly a no-bid contract) in shock gloves that can do serious harm with little or no transparency or accountability,’ King said in a written statement Thursday. ‘I urge every single one of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up, assert our constitutional authority, and demand immediate answers from ICE on their hiring practices, training and tactics.’” [Portland Press Herald, 8/14/26]
Collins Claimed That The Money She Voted For ICE Wasn’t Meant For Shock Gloves But For De-Escalation Training. According to the Portland Press Herald, “Collins, who supported the additional funding, told reporters during a campaign stop that the money was never meant for shock gloves, which are designed to elicit compliance from someone resisting arrest. The administration has described the gloves as a de-escalation device. Instead, Collins said the funding was intended to ensure that agents are properly trained before taking to the streets. ‘The money that we put in for de-escalation training was intended to help agents deal more effectively when there’s a large crowd that appears to be getting out of control, and it was teaching them techniques on how to deal with that,’ Collins said.” [Portland Press Herald, 8/14/26]
Collins Staff Claimed That The Administration Spending the Money For Anything Outside It Was Required For Would Be Breaking The Law But Refused To Say What Collins Would Do If the Administration Broke The Law. According to the Portland Press Herald, “Collin’s staff said the administration is bound to use the money as appropriated, otherwise it would be breaking the law. Her staff did not respond to a question about what Collins, who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee, would do if the administration moved forward.” [Portland Press Herald, 8/14/26]
An ICE Agent Fatally Shot A Motorist In Maine. According to PBS, “A federal immigration agent fatally shot a motorist just south of Maine's largest city on Monday, the second time in a week that ICE has used deadly force on American soil and at least the ninth death since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown. It was the first for Maine, a Democratic-led state with a relatively large immigrant population that Trump targeted earlier in the year immediately after two high-profile ICE shootings in Minnesota.” [PBS, 7/14/26]
The Agents Weren’t Using Bodycams And The Person Killed Wasn’t A Target For Their Probe. According to PBS, “The agents involved in the Maine incident were not using body cameras, and the victim, a 26-year-old Colombian national, was not the target of their probe, officials said.” [PBS, 7/14/26]
Guerrero Was Described As A Devoted Father And A Hard Worker Who Was “Legally” In The Country. According to the New Republic, “Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was gunned down after agents boxed in his vehicle outside his home in Biddeford, and his three-year-old daughter was seen crying after the incident. He has been widely described as a devoted father and hard worker who was in this country legally.” [New Republic, 7/23/26]
Collins Defended Her Support For The Department Of Homeland Security, Claiming That She Was Working With Federal Officials To Improve Immigration Enforcement. According to Spectrum News, “Sen. Susan Collins defended her support for the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, saying she is working with federal officials to improve immigration enforcement. In recent weeks, Democrats and Democrat-aligned groups have been critical of Collins, a Republican running for her sixth term, for supporting increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” [Spectrum News, 8/14/26]
Protestors Gathered Near An ICE Facility And Condemned Collins For Supporting Legislation To Expand Funding For ICE. According to PBS, “The day after a vigil turned out hundreds in Portland, a group of several dozen protestors gathered near an ICE facility in Scarborough and condemned Collins for supporting legislation to expand funding for ICE. Protesters waved signs stating ‘Stop the murder’ and ‘End this terror.’” [PBS, 7/14/26]
HEADLINE: Protestors Target Senator Susan Collins For Voting To Support $70 Billion Dollar ICE Funding Package [Maine Public, 8/11/26]
Around 100 Protesters, Protested Collins’ Biddeford Office To Call Her Out For Voting For $70 Billion To Fund ICE. According to Maine Public, “About one hundred protestors targeted Senator Susan Collins' Biddeford office Tuesday to call her out for voting in support of a $70 billion dollar package to fund ICE and the Border Patrol this past spring.” [Maine Public, 8/11/26]
[VIDEO] Mainers Held A Protest Over Collins Vote For ICE Funding And Voting Against ACA Tax Credits. “A group of protesters gathered outside of Susan Collins’ office in Biddeford one month after an ICE agent shot and killed a man during a traffic stop. The protest was organized by the Maine People’s Alliance as part of a larger nationwide effort called Fund Care Not Cruelty. The protest is a specific criticism of Collins’ support for ICE in the past, as well as voting against advanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act. A mariachi band joined protesters and local legislators with signs.” [NEWS CENTER Maine (WLBZ), 8/11/26]
HEADLINE: ‘Stop Funding Fear And Death’: Mainers Protest Collins’ Support For ICE [Maine Beacon, 8/12/26]
A Mainer Who Was An Immigrant From Colombia Claimed That Parents Were Afraid To Take Their Kids To School Or Work After The Murder By An ICE Agent. According to the Maine Beacon, “McLaughlin was among more than 150 protesters demanding Collins take responsibility for supporting ICE as federal immigration agents continue to operate with little oversight. The protest, organized by Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project) and Popular Democracy, came less than a month after Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford. ‘Parents wouldn’t take their kids to school. Parents wouldn’t leave their houses to go to work,’ said McLaughlin, who immigrated from Colombia and has lived in Maine for six years. ‘We want to live without fear of being separated by detention or killed at the hands of federal agents.’” [Maine Beacon, 8/12/26]
A Maine State Senator Claimed That Collin’s Vote To Fund ICE “With No Strings Attached Was Shameful.” According to the Maine Beacon, “Maine Sen. Henry Ingwersen (D-Biddeford) also spoke, calling out Collins for supporting the funding without restrictions requiring immigration agents to wear body cameras, identify themselves or follow stronger use-of-force standards. ‘Susan’s vote to fund ICE with no strings attached was shameful,’ Ingwersen said. ‘The ICE incursion into Maine communities must end. It has only served to make our communities less safe, and more fearful, and more brokenhearted.’” [Maine Beacon, 8/12/26]
Collins Previously Declined To Call For Secretary Noem’s Resignation After Two U.S. Citizens Were Killed In Minnesota By ICE Despite Her Other Centrist Colleagues Doing So. According to the New York Times, “In January, Ms. Collins declined to call for Ms. Noem to step down after ICE agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, splitting with two of her centrist Republican Senate colleagues, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.” [New York Times, 7/14/26]