Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026

This bill gives DHS permission to spend specific dollar amounts in 2026 across all of its major components. It covers management, the Office of the Secretary, the Inspector General, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Coast Guard, Secret Service, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and the Science and Technology Directorate. Many accounts allow money to stay available for several years for large purchases, construction, and long-term projects. The bill sets detailed rules for how DHS may use this money. It requires frequent reports and spending plans to Congress, limits how funds can be moved between programs, and ties some funds to completing required reports on time. It adds policy riders, such as rules for CBP and ICE detention contracts and conditions for Coast Guard and Secret Service operations and pay. It also includes a second division that legally covers a recent funding lapse and confirms that pay and obligations made during that lapse are valid.

This bill controls how much DHS can spend in 2026 and what it can spend it on. That affects border enforcement, immigration detention capacity, airport and aviation security, disaster aid after hurricanes and wildfires, Coast Guard patrols, and the federal government’s cybersecurity efforts. State, local, tribal, and nonprofit partners rely on FEMA and homeland security grants in this bill to support emergency management, firefighting, port and transit security, and protection of non-profit facilities. The bill also sets many conditions on DHS operations. These include health and safety standards for some people in custody, reporting and oversight of detention facilities and contracts, restrictions on certain surveillance and unmanned aircraft, and requirements for regular data estimates on migration and detention. These rules shape how DHS carries out its mission and how Congress monitors performance and spending.

• Provides large operations and support funding for CBP (about $17.7 billion), ICE (about $10.0 billion), TSA (about $10.6 billion), Coast Guard (about $11.3 billion plus $1.25 billion for retired pay), Secret Service (about $3.1 billion), CISA (about $2.2 billion), FEMA operations (about $1.7 billion), USCIS ($122.9 million supplement), and others.
• Gives CBP $222.9 million and the Coast Guard $991.9 million for procurement, construction, and improvements, with funds available for up to four to six years, mainly for assets and infrastructure.
• Sets FEMA Federal Assistance grants at about $3.84 billion, including State Homeland Security, Urban Area Security Initiative, Nonprofit Security Grants, port, transit, and fire grants, emergency management performance grants, flood mapping, dam safety, and community project grants.
• Funds FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund at $26.367 billion, available until spent, to pay for major disasters under the Stafford Act.
• Provides $226 million for the National Flood Insurance Fund’s floodplain management and mapping and caps certain operating and mitigation uses of that fund.
• Adds $20 million for body‑worn cameras for DHS agents and officers performing immigration enforcement and requires a spend plan within 30 days.
• Directs at least $5 million to ICE to support the Blue Campaign against human trafficking, with prior notification to Congress before the funds are used.
• Bars DHS from using funds to conduct certain “covered activities” by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, but clarifies that oversight and lawful information sharing can continue.
• Prohibits use of funds to continue ICE detention contracts where the two most recent performance evaluations are below “adequate,” and ties ICE enforcement support for local 287(g) agreements to Inspector General findings on compliance.
• Requires many recurring reports and briefings, including monthly DHS-wide budget and staffing reports, quarterly acquisition briefs, regular FEMA grant timeliness reports with automatic funding penalties if deadlines are missed, and quarterly reports on oversight of funds provided in Public Law 119‑21.
• Restricts CBP from procuring or deploying border surveillance systems that are not “autonomous” as defined in prior law, and continues a bar on funding for construction of certain types of border fencing.
• For CISA, allows operations and support funds to be used to buy or provide access to cybersecurity threat feeds for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, fusion centers, and information sharing organizations.
• Lets FEMA use prior‑year unobligated balances from older flood mapping and pre‑disaster mitigation accounts by transferring and merging them into current programs for mapping and mitigation.
• Limits use of funds for national identification card development, first-class travel, certain contractor award fees for unsatisfactory performance, and use of long‑range unmanned aircraft with kinetic (weapon) capabilities by DHS.
• Sets protections and standards for pregnant and postpartum women in DHS custody, including strict limits on restraints and requirements for safer positioning when restraints are used.
• Requires DHS to preserve records related to deaths, alleged abuse, and serious incidents involving people in DHS custody and to make them available to affected individuals in some cases.
• Directs DHS to produce monthly, independently reviewed estimates of expected southwest border migrant arrivals and detention/removal numbers and to use those estimates to justify budgets and reprogramming requests.
• Requires an alternatives and cost‑benefit analysis before asking the Department of Defense for border security assistance and mandates follow‑up reporting on the type and impact of any such support.
• Bars use of funds to transfer or release specified Guantanamo Bay detainees into or within the United States.
• Transfers about $99.8 million into CISA operations from an unobligated Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act cyber response fund, and rescinds multiple unobligated balances across DHS accounts and the Nonrecurring Expenses Fund.
• Allows Members of Congress and designated staff to enter DHS detention or housing facilities for oversight without being blocked or having conditions temporarily changed for the visit.
• Division B ratifies and approves obligations made under the prior 2026 continuing appropriations act and clarifies that pay and benefits for affected personnel during a lapse are valid and shall be paid.

• Division B, labeled the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026, is attached to this DHS bill and retroactively covers a past lapse in funding, validating obligations and ensuring pay is made even though it is not a standard DHS program provision.
• The bill temporarily increases pay for Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers and supervisors using DHS legislation, tying that raise to workforce efficiency conditions even though FAA is outside DHS.
• It adds $30 million for the Supreme Court of the United States for salaries and expenses within this DHS appropriations act, meaning judiciary funding is being adjusted in a homeland security spending bill.
• Some rescissions pull back unobligated funds from previous DHS accounts and the Department’s Nonrecurring Expenses Fund; this reduces previously available money even though headline appropriations numbers may suggest only increases.
• Several provisions suspend DHS’s general transfer and reprogramming authority under section 503 if certain reports or monthly estimates are not delivered, creating hidden leverage points that can affect internal budget flexibility.
• The bill allows some DHS operating accounts to fund “minor” procurement and construction up to specified dollar limits, which can shift some capital items into operations lines in ways that are not obvious from the top-level numbers.
• Members of Congress and certain staff are guaranteed access to DHS detention and housing facilities for oversight without prior notice for Members, which can affect facility operations and oversight dynamics but is buried in a general provision late in the bill.