The Republican budget signed into law by President Trump will allow him to dramatically expand his immigration crackdown, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) an unprecedented pool of funding to bolster its efforts to arrest and deport immigrants living in the U.S.
The spending comes at a time when Republicans have cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid– a move that could result in ten million Americans losing their health insurance. In North Carolina alone, 250,000 people could lose their coverage.
The money allocated to ICE amounts to the largest infusion of funds Congress has given the federal government for immigration enforcement. The Trump administration has vowed to deport millions of people, executing raids at work sites and other sensitive locations. In Charlotte, ICE has staged operations at a church and a school car line.
Congressional Republicans have decided to supercharge those efforts, setting aside roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security efforts, including $75 billion in extra funding for ICE, making it by far the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.
Here’s a look at what the new funds will be used for:
$45 billion for ICE’s detention system
The law gives ICE $45 billion to expand its already sprawling detention system over the next four years, letting officials use the money to hold both single adults and families with children facing deportation.
Based on cost estimates, the money could allow ICE to hold more than 100,000 detainees at any given time, roughly doubling the current capacity. ICE is currently holding just over 58,000 individuals in its detention network, which was previously funded for 41,500 beds.
ICE’s detention network mainly consists of facilities operated by for-profit prison companies and county jails. The Trump administration has also been exploring using military facilities to hold detainees before they are deported. The naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been housing some ICE detainees since February.
$30 billion for ICE’s arrest and deportation efforts
ICE is also receiving nearly $30 billion in additional money to fund every single stage of the deportation process.
Congress said ICE can use the money to hire additional deportation officers and other staff; retain current personnel through bonuses; increase transportation assets supporting deportation efforts; and expand and facilitate agreements that allow state and local officials to enforce federal immigration laws.
The funds can also be used to modernize ICE’s fleet of deportation planes and hire more agency prosecutors whose job it is to persuade immigration judges that immigrants should be deported.
The Department of Homeland Security has said the money could pave the way for ICE to hire 10,000 deportation officers. The agency currently has fewer than 6,000 officers in its deportation branch.
Tens of billions of dollars for other immigration and border efforts
More than $46 billion is allocated for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to build walls, barriers, and related projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. The agency received an additional $12 billion to fund Border Patrol agent vehicles, facilities, training, hiring, and bonuses.
The law also gives the Department of Homeland Security a pool of $10 billion to support its “mission to safeguard the borders of the United States.” Another $13.5 billion was set aside to reimburse states for their immigration enforcement and border security actions, including for efforts under the Biden administration.
That money for states could allow Texas to be paid back for Operation Lone Star, under which the state bused thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities. It could also fund actions taken by states like Florida to offer facilities, like the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” to hold detainees awaiting deportation.
Critics of the administration have denounced Republican lawmakers for giving billions of dollars to an agency under fire in many parts of the country over concerns that its enforcement operations have been too aggressive and indiscriminate.
Andrea Flores, a former Biden administration immigration official, warned that the money given to ICE would lead to dire humanitarian, legal and economic consequences, including inhumane conditions at detention facilities.
“The administration now has the resources it needs to carry out more deportations than we have ever seen in modern history,” said Flores.
According to a recent Gallup poll, only 35% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows similar results, with Trump’s immigration approval rating falling to 41%, the lowest since his return to the White House. According to Gallup, 79% of Americans now say immigration is a good thing for the country– a record high.
