GOP, Democrats clash on Capitol Hill as Republicans target cartels and Dems push to curb ICE partnerships

Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., unveiled the COPS Anti-Organized Crime and Cartel Enforcement Act of 2025, looking to provide new resources to local communities combating cartels and other organized threats.

Those new resources would be made available through the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office. 

"My bill gives police departments access to federal COPS grant funding specifically to create specialized units that can take on organized crime, with the training, equipment and personnel they need to dismantle these operations," Harrigan said.

His bill comes as Democrats led by Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., unveiled the PROTECT Act, a piece of legislation that would forbid federal agencies from deputizing local authorities to carry out immigration-related enforcement. The contrasting pieces of legislation highlight split understandings over the country's most pressing law enforcement needs and views on how to address them.

Harrigan's bill would create a $200 million COPS grant over four years. Under current law, COPS provides a wide range of federal assistance for specific purposes - like its "Anti-Heroin Task Force Awards" or the "Preparing for Active Shooter Situations" grant.

The proposed bill would create a similar category for communities grappling with organized crime and cartels.

"Drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations are operating on American soil with near impunity, and our local law enforcement agencies need the resources to fight back," Harrigan said.

Democrats, however, have a different set of concerns.

Quigley, who is spearheading the PROTECT Act, believes that local law enforcement that looks and behaves like federal agencies don't promote public safety if they also erode public trust.

"When people believe that if they call 9-1-1, they have a risk of being scooped and taken away, they're less likely to call, and they're going to be less safe," Quigley said. "I was at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse, talking to advocates. Women were afraid to go in and get the justice they deserved. They were afraid to go get orders of protection to protect them from abusers."

The PROTECT Act, which resurfaces legislation originally introduced by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., would look to eliminate the 287(g) provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

"I think it's more likely to create a distrust, just because it's all-encompassing," Quigley said. "It's an extraordinary program, but the public can't distance local law enforcement and ICE, and they're less likely to have faith and call in any crime." 

As lawmakers prepare to leave town for the holidays, it's unclear when the respective bills will receive consideration.

Harrigan pressed the urgency of needing to equip local law enforcement.

"We're talking about the same criminal organizations flooding our streets with fentanyl and fueling violence in our communities, and if we're serious about securing our communities, we need to give our police the tools to do it," Harrigan said.