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Trump wants to deport millions of illegal immigrants, but agency doesn't have the money: Report
ICE faces a $2 billion funding shortfall due to increased expenses from Trump's immigration policies, requiring extensive resources for deportations.
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is facing a funding shortfall of $2 billion for this year, Axios reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report states that the agency's expenses have shot up amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
ICE has struggled with budget shortfalls in recent years, but the financial strain has worsened as the agency attempts to meet Trump's directive to deport "millions" of unauthorized immigrants. This effort requires extensive resources, including increased staffing, additional detention facilities, and more transportation for deportations.
While Congress has approved an additional $500 million for ICE as part of a stop-gap spending bill currently being debated in the Senate, this amount is only a fraction of what the agency says it needs to maintain its current operations through the end of September, according to the Axios report.
Breaking down the costs
The costs of Trump's immigration crackdown are staggering. The administration’s plans include:
- Hiring hundreds of additional enforcement personnel.
- More than doubling ICE's detention capacity to 100,000 beds.
- Expanding the use of deportation flights, requiring a larger fleet of planes and more logistical support.
Not all of these expenses are covered in the current funding bill before Congress, meaning ICE is unlikely to receive the additional funding it seeks in the immediate future.
What if ICE does not get funding?
If ICE does not receive the additional funding from Congress, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have to shift money from other agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the Coast Guard to cover ICE’s shortfall. This pattern is not new—an analysis by the Government Accountability Office of ICE's budgets from 2014 to 2023 found that the agency has regularly overspent and had to rely on funds from other DHS departments.
