Senate Republicans are turning Jon Ossoff’s latest vote against border enforcement funding into a campaign attack as Georgia’s U.S. Senate race intensifies.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee accused the Georgia Democrat of trying to “hamstring law enforcement” after he voted against S. 2, the Secure America Act, a budget reconciliation package Republicans pushed to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol. The Senate passed the measure 52-47 early June 5, with Ossoff and Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock voting no.
“Jon Ossoff has spent months trying to defund the police,” NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia said in the group’s release, arguing the senator would rather protect “criminal illegals like Laken Riley’s killer” than Georgia families. The NRSC highlighted past comments in which Ossoff criticized masked federal agents and accused him of opposing local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
The vote came as Republicans fought to end a monthslong standoff over immigration enforcement money. The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump later signed the nearly $70 billion bill, which provides $38 billion for ICE, $26 billion for Border Patrol and $5 billion for Homeland Security costs.
Ossoff has framed his opposition differently, saying in January that Congress should not provide more ICE funding without civil liberties protections. His office said “masked federal agents are detaining citizens without cause” and that lawmakers must “protect our Constitutional rights.”
But Republicans see the issue as politically potent in Georgia, where Laken Riley’s 2024 murder became central to the national immigration debate. The Laken Riley Act, signed into law in 2025, requires detention of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who are arrested or charged with crimes such as theft, assaulting law enforcement or offenses that injure or kill someone.
