Election 2026
Independent, source-first accountability
Issue record
What each candidate says on this issue, and what their own official record shows.
Campaign positions
Her campaign's spokesman defended her vote to keep the Department of Homeland Security operating and called for leaders focused on keeping government funded and standing behind the officers who protect the country. The campaign pages reviewed state no broader immigration position.
His campaign's priorities include dismantling and abolishing ICE.
Evidence timeline
official action
She backed seven DHS debate motions and a June 2026 law adding $38.5 billion for ICE and $26 billion for CBP, plus failed votes on an ICE cut and taking up a DACA funding shift.
On the Senate floor on March 12, 2026, nearly a month into the lapse in Homeland Security funding, she urged the Senate to take up the department's funding bill and said defunding ICE and Customs and Border Protection is not a serious policy solution. She voted Yea on all seven motions to take up H.R. 7147, the Homeland Security funding bill, from February 12 to March 26, 2026 (Roll Calls 38, 39, 47, 54, 59, 71 and 74). Each fell short of the 60 votes needed. The version the Senate then passed by voice vote became law on April 30 and set funding in the bill for ICE, and for CBP's border security operations, at zero. On June 5 she voted Yea on S. 2, the Secure America Act, which passed 52 to 47 and became law on June 10. It gives ICE another $38.5 billion, including $7.45 billion for Homeland Security Investigations, and CBP another $26 billion, available through September 2029. Limit: The seven votes were on starting debate, and the Senate passed the bill without a recorded vote. She also voted for Bernie Sanders's failed amendment on January 30 to take back some ICE money and undo Medicaid changes, and on June 5 to waive budget rules for Dick Durbin's failed amendment to move some ICE money to DACA applications.
official action
She voted seven times to take up the April 2026 law with $20 million for immigration officers' body cameras, and for a June law listing them among ICE's uses; neither shows who put that in.
In both debates she said she secured funding for body cameras for ICE officers. The Homeland Security funding law signed April 30, 2026, Public Law 119-86, sets aside $20 million for body-worn cameras for agents and officers doing immigration enforcement. She voted seven times to take that bill up; the Senate passed it without a recorded vote. On June 5 she also voted for S. 2, the Secure America Act, which passed 52 to 47 and became law June 10; it gives ICE another $38.5 billion, and lists body-worn cameras among the technology uses of $31.1 billion of that. Limit: Neither law shows who put the camera money in.
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Collins for Senator · Published Apr 26, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Statement by the campaign's spokesman, April 26, 2026. It is the campaign's only statement on homeland security funding the desk found.
candidate statement
For: Susan M. Collins: campaign position
Troy Jackson for Maine · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Campaign-controlled source: eleven priorities, listed without detail.
candidate statement
For: Troy D. Jackson: campaign position
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Mar 12, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 25, 2026
Congressional Record of March 12, 2026. Collins urges the Senate to end the Homeland Security shutdown and take up the department's funding bill, and says defunding ICE and CBP is not a serious public policy solution.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
U.S. Senate · Reviewed Sep 25, 2026
The Senate's own vote records (vote_119_2_00018.xml and so on), read September 25, 2026. Votes 38 to 74, February 12 to March 26, 2026, are the seven cloture votes on the motion to proceed to H.R. 7147; each was rejected under the three-fifths rule, and each lists Collins (R-ME) Yea. Vote 18, January 30, is Sanders Amendment 4290 to H.R. 7148, rejected 49 to 51, with Collins Yea.
official legislative record
U.S. Senate · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
The Senate's own vote records (one XML file per vote, vote_119_2_00137.xml to vote_119_2_00163.xml), read September 23, 2026. The 27 votes printed in the June 4 Record ran from 10:30 a.m. on June 4 to 4:42 a.m. on June 5; each lists Collins (R-ME) as voting Yea or Nay. Vote 160, which the Record's printed tally could not be read against, lists her Nay.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 25, 2026
Sponsor Tom Cole. The action list records the seven failed cloture votes, Senate passage with an amendment by voice vote on March 27, 2026 (March 26 in the law's printed history), and enactment on April 30.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026
Approved April 30, 2026. Section 4 sets the spending-table amounts under the ICE heading, and under CBP's Border Security Operations, to $0, and the Act has no ICE appropriation of its own (read in the enrolled text, BILLS-119hr7147enr). Section 109 of Division A adds $20,000,000 to the Office of the Secretary for body-worn cameras for agents and officers doing immigration enforcement. Division B covers the lapse that began on or about February 14, 2026.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 25, 2026
Sponsor Lindsey Graham; the 2026 reconciliation bill. Passed the Senate 52 to 47 on June 5, 2026 (Roll Call 163, with Collins Yea) and became law June 10.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 25, 2026
Approved June 10, 2026. Sections 102 and 202 give ICE $7,450,000,000 and $31,075,000,000, and Sections 101, 103 and 201 give CBP $9,550,000,000, $3,450,000,000 and $13,020,000,000. All of it is in addition to amounts otherwise available and stays available until September 30, 2029. Section 202 lists body-worn cameras among the uses of ICE's information technology money.
official legislative record
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
CBS 13 News (WGME) · Published Oct 6, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026
44:45-45:18. Described from the host's YouTube captions; no second transcript was found, so the words are not quoted.
candidate statement
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction
WMTW-TV · Published Oct 8, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026
50:22-50:34. Described from the host's YouTube captions; no second transcript was found, so the words are not quoted.
candidate statement
For: Susan M. Collins: Matches stated direction