Washington, DC, July 1, 2025 – On July 1, the US Senate passed a budget settlement bill that includes unprecedented allocation of funds for immigration detention and enforcement, simultaneously stripping millions of Americans of health care.
The bill passed today with Vice President JD Vance’s donation to the tiebreak vote and has won approximately $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement-related funding provisions. The bill includes:
$45 billion to build a new immigration detention center, including family detention facilities. This represents a 265% increase in annual budgets for ICE’s current detention budget. This is 62% more budget than the entire federal prison system, with at least 116,000 non-citizens likely to be detained daily. $29.9 billion has increased ICE’s annual budget tripled for ICE enforcement and deportation work. In addition to this increase in immigration enforcement, 12-17 million people risk losing healthcare. It limits the number of immigrant judges to 800 despite the record backlog of the immigration court system. $46.6 billion for the construction of the border wall. Even though the wall has not improved or contributed to its border control strategy, the new $10 billion funding to reimburse DHS for costs related to protection, despite the wall being more than three times as much as the Trump administration spent on the wall in its first period.[ing] US borders protect against illegal entry of people or contraband. “The funds are almost 50% of CBP’s 2024 budget, but unlike the usual budget, this fund will be the Slush Fund because it is rarely used.
For a complete analysis of what is included in the bill, see the council’s explanators here.
Overall, this represents the biggest investment in detention and deportation in US history. Policy choices that do nothing to address the systemic obstacles of our immigration system will harm, disrupt and tear families apart.
“The bill will invest unprecedented levels of funds in the president’s increasingly unpopular deportation agenda, taking 12-17 million Americans from basic health care. “When polls show that more Americans are refusing to mass detention and deportation, this bill will ignore what Americans want and double the punitive policy that will do nothing to address the real issues of our immigration system, including the court backlog, the lack of legal pathways to citizenship and the broken US asylum system.”
The bill’s frequently enforced provisions come at the expense of urgently needed investments in asylum handling, legal representatives, community-based alternatives to detention, and support for local and nonprofit organizations.
“Throwing billions at detention centers and enforcement agents is myopic. Instead, we should invest in a system aimed at welcoming migrants who donate billions to our economy.” “We don’t need more prison beds or indiscriminate raids. We need a balanced solution that strengthens the right process and keeps our families together.”
The bill is now returning to the House and members are expected to vote for the final passage later this week. Experts from the U.S. Immigration Council can talk in more detail about what is included in the bill, including immigration courts, border funding, what happens to unaccompanied children, and the number of ICE agents.
For additional analysis of what is included in the bill, see the Council’s full description here.
