Polls show a majority of Americans aren't comfortable with current immigration enforcement. Still, Congressional Republicans want to provide an extra $70 billion for such operations, with proposed reforms in doubt, and California union voices are worried.

The GOP has resisted calls for requiring ICE and Border Patrol agents to go without masks, wear identification and body cameras, and obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property.

James Early, media specialist for Coalinga State Hospital and a steward with Service Employees International Union Local 1000, said last summer’s ICE raids were cruel.

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“How a nation enforces its laws is as important as the laws themselves,” Early contended. “To see a federal agency running around in masks, that's not a police force that I want. That's not an America I want. That's not freedom to me. That's oppression.”

The Washington rally also protested Medicaid cuts in a Republican-sponsored tax and policy law from last summer. The Trump administration put some savings toward immigration enforcement, saying it is necessary to uphold the rule of law. The House reconciliation bill requires only a simple majority, meaning it could pass without Democratic votes.

A recent Fox News poll found 54% of Americans disapprove of the administration’s handling of immigration.

Medicaid is known as Medi-Cal in California. Early worries the cuts will affect his niece, who has special needs and relies on the program to remain in the community.

“When they passed the HR1 bill, my brother, one of the first things he did was reach out to me and say, ‘I don't know what to do here because I just got a notice that her benefits are going to be impacted by HR1,’” Early recounted.

The reconciliation bill is currently stalled in the Senate over objections to the president’s request for almost $1.8 billion for a fund to reimburse people who feel they have been unfairly prosecuted by the Department of Justice, including January 6 rioters.