Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) suggested Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could start deporting U.S. citizens with the expanded budget requested for fiscal 2026.
During an interview with MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes,” Garcia was asked about the Trump administration’s request for “an unprecedented expansion of funding of DHS, particularly on immigration enforcement” and “what it would look like to give this agency three to five times the funding it currently has.”
Garcia said that with more funding, DHS “would only expand” its current efforts.
“They’re deporting … children with cancer that have been diagnosed to other countries without their permission and the permission of their parents; they are essentially locking away students for expressing their freedom of speech and their political views. They’re deporting people that we give appointments for, for asylum. They are whisking away, literally in the dead of night, people from our communities across the country, without any of them even getting a chance to call a lawyer or their family,” Garcia said in the interview.
“And they expect us to support giving them more resources to do this?” he continued.
The congressman warned the situation could escalate.
“Let’s be clear, they are going to come after United States citizens. They are already doing it to children, to immigrants, to asylum-seekers. And we cannot give them more money to do this. And now they’re going after members of Congress,” Garcia continued. “So this is an incredibly dangerous moment for this country, and we’ve got to take it very seriously.”
The president’s 2026 fiscal budget request, unveiled earlier this month, included a 65 percent increase for the DHS budget, which Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said would work to implement Trump’s mass deportation and plans to secure the border.
The Hill reached out to DHS for comment on Garcia’s remarks.
