Senator Britt is honored to serve as the Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Homeland Security Subcommittee’s jurisdiction covers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agencies, including those responsible for immigration enforcement and border security. She believes that we must invest strategically and intentionally in solutions that support the Trump Administration’s incredible efforts to reverse the border crisis created by the Biden-Harris Administration and continue to keep our border and our interior secure. Senator Britt has the utmost respect for the tens of thousands of DHS agents, officers, and employees who work tirelessly to protect our nation, and she believes they should be given the resources they need to do the job they signed up to do.
In contrast to President Biden’s budget proposals, rampant abuse of presidential parole authority, and mass migration policies that invited, fueled, and facilitated our nation’s open borders, Republicans and the Trump Administration have made keeping our homeland and citizens safe a top priority. The very first bill President Trump signed into law in his second term was Senator Britt’s Laken Riley Act. The Laken Riley Act requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal aliens who commit theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses and would mandate that these aliens are detained until they are removed from the United States so they cannot reoffend and commit further crimes. Additionally, this legislation ensures that States have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law. This bipartisan legislation is the most significant immigration enforcement and border security-related bill to be enacted into law in nearly three decades. Since the Laken Riley Act was signed into law, more than 21,400 illegal aliens have been arrested as a result. These actions to protect families and communities stand in stark contrast to the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies that resulted in over half a million illegal aliens on ICE’s non-detained docket by mid 2024 who had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges and were released back into the United States.
Senator Britt has also long voiced disapproval of the Biden-Harris Administration’s handling of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC). She has continued to advocate for reforms to protect children from potential abuses and exploitation, and she is a cosponsor of the Kayla Hamilton Act, named in honor of a young woman who was sexually assaulted and brutally murdered by a 17-year-old MS-13 gang member and UAC who illegally entered the country through the southern border and was released by the Biden-Harris Administration to a sponsor. This legislation would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct thorough background and criminal record checks on UAC and potential sponsors prior to their placement.
Early in the 119th Congress, Republicans prioritized passing the Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act, fulfilling a promise made to the American people to take decisive action against the deadly fentanyl crisis. Senator Britt was proud to be a strong supporter of passing the HALT Fentanyl Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in July of 2025. The bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act and ensures law enforcement has the tools necessary to end this epidemic.
Senator Britt has also cosponsored a number of bills introduced by her colleagues that would help keep our hardworking law enforcement officers safe, protect American workers, restore integrity to the immigration parole statute, hold illegal aliens accountable for their crimes against our citizens, and fight sanctuary policies and provide justice for victims of those policies and their families. Those bills include: the Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act; the Back the Blue Act; the Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act; the Immigration Parole Reform Act; the Flight Risk Reduction Act; the Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act; and the Justice for Victims of Illegal Alien Murders Act.
In her capacity as Chair of the Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, Senator Britt was proud to announce a new training center in Birmingham to support our nation’s outstanding U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) personnel, especially as the USCG continues to recruit servicemembers to combat 21st-century threats. She advocated directly to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for the center and highlighted Alabama’s leadership in military excellence. Senator Britt remains committed to continuing to fight to give the Coast Guard the resources and tools needed to fulfill its critical mission and keep Americans safe.
Senator Britt looks forward to continuing to work with her colleagues on the critical task of securing our border. She is proud to have led and enacted substantive solutions that protect American citizens and our national security. She won’t stop fighting to secure the border, combat the flood of fentanyl, support our tremendous law enforcement officers, and cut off the incentives that encourage more people to break the law.