Every Arizona Republican in the US House voted for the two laws that give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about $113 billion through 2029, more than 11 times the agency’s usual annual budget. The Deportation Data Project logged 2,190 ICE arrests in Arizona in July, the highest rate in years. Most of those arrested had a nonviolent criminal conviction or no criminal conviction at all.
With Election Day on Nov. 3, two of those Republicans, Juan Ciscomani and Andy Biggs, are in competitive races
A new Instagram post from CHNGE, a clothing brand and collective, highlights which members of Congress voted to funnel billions into ICE at a time when immigration authorities have targeted longtime Arizona residents and even killed citizens in January: Renée Nicole Good and Alex Prett. The deaths prompted national conversations on body-cameras and guardrails.
The post highlights five Arizona Republicans—US Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Juan Ciscomani, Eli Crane, and Abe Hamadeh—for voting for $113 billion for ICE and $91 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The post did not mention US Rep. David Schweikert, who voted the same way but is not seeking reelection. Schweikert ran for governor instead and lost the July 21 Republican primary to Biggs.
Is it true?
Yes. All Arizona’s Republican House members voted for the two laws that fund President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Most of the funding stems from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which passed in July 2025. The law allocated $170 billion to immigration efforts, including nearly $75 billion for ICE and $65 billion for CBP.
About a year later, in June, congressional Republicans passed the Secure America Act, giving ICE another $38.5 billion for ICE and CBP $26 billion to fund operations through 2029. The act was passed through the budget reconciliation process, allowing Republicans to bypass the Senate filibuster and strip out proposed Democratic oversight amendments. The House passed it 214-212, with every Democrat voting no. Combined, the two laws give ICE roughly $113.5 billion, more than 11 times the agency’s usual annual budget of about $10 billion, according to Time.
Arizona’s Republican delegation has largely voted to support the administration’s mass deportation efforts. ICE held more than 65,000 people in detention nationwide as of July 11, according to data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). About 71% of them had no criminal conviction.
Could it cost them?
Two of the representatives—Ciscomani and Biggs—are running in swing races. Gosar, Hamadeh, and Crane are also up for reelection, but represent districts considered safe Republican.
Ciscomani, a Republican who represents Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, is running against Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a US Army and Marine veteran, in a race the Cook Political Report deems a “toss-up.” Ciscomani has said little publicly about ICE’s tactics as arrests climb across Arizona, including in his own district. At a Sierra Vista event in January, Ciscomani acknowledged ICE concerns without explicitly denouncing the agency.
“Things have spiraled out of control in some of these areas,” Ciscomani said. “We see that in Minnesota.”
He told reporters at the time that he supported Trump’s decision to hand control of Minnesota immigration enforcement to border czar Tom Homan.
Mendoza supports the Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act from Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego and has advocated for legal pathways to citizenship for people who “work hard, follow the law, and contribute to their communities.”
Biggs is leaving his seat in Arizona’s 5th Congressional District to run for governor against Democratic incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs. As part of his campaign priorities, Biggs wrote that he would expand local cooperation with ICE, including by encouraging law enforcement agencies to sign 287(g) agreements, which allow local agencies to assist the federal government with immigration enforcement.
A Noble Predictive Insights poll from August found Hobbs leading Biggs 48% to 35% among likely voters. Biggs’ only edge was on immigration, where his lead was within the poll’s margin of error.
In February, Hobbs launched a “Know Your Rights” website as ICE activity increased in the state. The website includes recommendations and resources for an encounter with an ICE agent. Hobbs has criticized Trump’s handling of ICE, arguing in favor of border security but opposing the administration’s enforcement tactics.
“The president ran on going after criminals, and what we’re seeing now with a lot of this escalation and ICE activity—it’s not making communities safer. They seem to be responding to some deportation quotas, doing indiscriminate roundups of people that are not breaking the law,” Hobbs said in a 12News appearance in January. “It’s not making us safer.”
