The American Council of Immigration does not approve or oppose candidates for elected offices. We aim to provide an analysis of the impact of elections on the US immigration system.
Early on Friday morning, the Senate is expected to begin the process of passing the budget adjustment bill. This is expected to launch a somewhat obscure parliamentary procedure that allows funding bills to pass through both parliamentary homes at just a simple majority threshold. Senate. The Senate contract reportedly includes at least an unprecedented $175 billion in immigration and border enforcement. This is almost six times the annual budget, almost six times the latest annual budget for Customs Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). To pay this incredible amount, exact details have not yet been set, but the plan calls for cuts on key programs, including Medicaid, Social Security, and food stamps.
Providing at least $175 billion for immigration and border enforcement is unprecedented. For context, in the 20 years since the US Department of Homeland Security was established in 2003, Congress provided a total of $49 billion for ICE and CBP. Now, Congress is poised to increase that amount by nearly 43% with a single bill. This makes it line up in the pockets of private prison companies that operate detention facilities and manage ankle monitors used in mass deportations.
Funding to that level can change the US’s ability to enforce and detain immigrants facing removal. In 2024, ICE’s overall budget was just under $8.5 billion, with a record $3.4 billion set aside for immigrant detention, imprisoning 41,500 people at any time. Even if only a small portion of $175 billion was set aside for detention, it would be enough to fund twice or three times the current capacity, and tens of thousands of new facilities in existing facilities in the Trump administration. It will build dozens of vast new detention camps across the United States that will give you the ability to lease detention beds.
This expansion of capabilities is exactly what Trump’s “border emperor” Tom Homan is looking for. He will detain at least 100,000 people, including the construction of at least four new detention camps, which will house more than 10,000 people at any time, and more than 12 small detention camps that will house between 700 and 1,000 people. I’m looking for at least enough funding. It also allows agencies to hire tens of thousands of new law enforcement agents, build new boundary walls of hundreds of miles, and create surveillance infrastructure that establishes a “paper, please” system across the United States. Given how much fear the Trump administration has already generated with the resources available now, it is difficult to imagine how much funding at this level could change the relationship between the US and the immigrants living here. .
To pay for this detention and enforcement Bonanza, as well as planned tax cuts and other GOP priorities, Congress is considering government-wide reduction services and is seeking a total cut of at least $4 billion. It is being done. President Trump has said he will not cut Medicaid or Medicare, but Republican leaders have said they will have a major Medicaid cut to reach the level of spending cuts needed to maintain fraudulent neutrality in budget transactions. He admitted it would likely be necessary. Also, spending at least $175 billion on immigration enforcement means inevitably cutting other government services. For example, one proposed payment for immigration enforcement reportedly was the exclusion of Biden-era regulations requiring nursing homes to raise staffing levels to qualify for Medicaid.
These dramatic trade-offs will hurt all Americans and immigrant communities across the country. Trump’s immigration enforcement policy has already caused taxpayers to bleed at unnecessary costs, including deporting military aircraft up to $3 million per flight. As research from the American Immigration Council shows, large-scale deportation is extremely costly, and can cause great economic harm, leading to everyday unemployment and difficulties for Americans. Rather than supercharge an already powerful immigration enforcement system, we need to focus on creating a fair, fast and functional immigration system, and instead use this fund to help the community grow. Invest in the community. We shouldn’t use our future to implement Trump’s deportation goals.
