by Sharon Rondeau
(Jun. 11, 2026) — At approximately 11:18 a.m. EDT Wednesday, President Trump prepared to sign a bill providing $70 billion to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both subsidiaries of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) led by Markwayne Mullin.
On Tuesday the bill passed the House with a vote of 214-212 with no Democrat support; it passed the Senate in early May.
In February, funding authorization for the agencies expired, and Democrats opposed renewing it.after two Americans were killed in January in confrontations with ICE and CBP officers while the latter were conducting immigration enforcement activities.
Republican majorities in both chambers utilized the budget reconciliation process to advance the bill to a vote to avoid the bipartisan debate required by the customary appropriations process.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA-3), who recently changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent, also voted against the bill. His district has been redrawn to become California’s sixth district, with a reported electorate more favorable to Democrats.
Prior to the signing, Trump provided remarks on a wide range of topics including border security, Maine Democrat candidate Graham Platner, taxation, “men in women’s sports,” “transgender mutilization [sic] of your child,” human smuggling, and the June 2 primary elections in California whose final results remain opaque.
At 11:48 a.m., he opened the session to reporters’ questions, the first of which dealt with Iran’s shooting down of a U.S. Apache helicopter on Monday.
The two pilots were rescued by a drone, a first-time occurrence which Trump termed “amazing.”
The “deal” Trump has been seeking with Iran has been elusive, he conceded. “I’ve been working with them for months…We want a deal that’s meaningful, we want a deal that works…” in contrast to the JCPOA the Obama regime signed with Iran, Trump said. “His (Obama’s) was a path to a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They were developing during his administration a nuclear weapon…so we’ll see what happens…”
“So we hit ’em hard yesterday, and we’re gonna hit ’em hard today…” Trump added.
“We have to remember…Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve agreed to that, but all they have to do is sign a paper…,” he said. Instead, the Iranians have chosen to become more aggressive.
On Graham’s November opponent, longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins, Trump admitted she is “not my best friend” but that she is the “same woman” she has always been. “She’s never missed a vote,” he observed. In contrast, he described Graham as “a thug.”
Trump briefly shifted to the accomplishments of his first term and the subsequent 2020 election, asserting the latter was “rigged.” “When we release the files, you won’t believe how crooked the 2020 election was,” Trump said.
He predicted the World Cup championship to be held in part in Los Angeles will be “the most successful ever.”
Returning to the subject of Iran, he said the U.S. is “taking out millions of barrels of oil” from the rogue nation each night of which he claimed the Iranians were not aware until then. “They just figured it out,” he remarked in light of his revelation. He said the activity has reduced oil to $85/barrel, later stating it to be between $85 and $90/barrel.
According to oilpriceapi on Wednesday, WTI crude oil is $90.80/barrel.
He said the New York Stock Exchange hit a new record on Wednesday.
The American military’s early January incursion into Venezuela to arrest Nicolas Maduro on an outstanding indictment, Trump said, has yielded “millions of barrels of oil” as well as positive relationships with the new leadership, he said.
“We have the greatest military in the world,” Trump said. “When it’s over,” he said of the Iranian conflict, “you’re going to see oil drop like a rock.”