Trump’s Budget Bill Just Passed Congress: It's a massive pay-off to ICE
Bill headed to Senate for confirmation will make ICE one of the most well-funded LEO's on the planet
When Donald Trump returned to office he inherited the most powerful domestic surveillance capabilities on the planet, a U.S. presidency with more power than it has ever possessed, and over a quarter of million employees at the Department of Homeland security— which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
He is using all of those tools, as well as new powers he invents or seizes along the way, to fulfill his campaign promises to deport millions of migrants. And the U.S. House of Representatives just gave him another powerful weapon to do all three.
In a 215 to 214 vote, mostly along party lines, Representatives in Congress passed a bill that funnels huge amounts of money to border enforcement, ICE, and the military, at the expense of cuts to Medicaid, clean energy programs, food assistance, and education.
The bill multiplies operational funding for ICE by a factor of over five, from $8 billion to $45 billion. It includes $46.5 billion in border wall funding, $14.4 billion for border security, $8 billion to hire additional ICE agents, and $5 billion to fund military operations devoted to border control.
If the bill clears the Senate, as it is expected to, ICE will become the highest funded law enforcement agency in the country.
The bill also includes a 5% tax on remittances sent by migrants to Guatemala, El Salvador, the Philippines, and Haiti, a sum that amounts to millions of dollars weekly.
In addition, it ends Temporary protected status for migrant Afghans in the U.S. who served as allies to U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan, potentially allowing their deportation back to a country where they will be considered traitors by the current government.
It also retroactively funds Texas's "Operation Lone Star," which jailed tens of thousands of asylum seekers, sent troops to push families back into the river, and bused migrants to Democrat-governed cities at over $1,900 per seat.
The victory for Trump’s spending package, which he has often referred to as his “big beautiful bill”, comes on the heels of a less clear victory in the Supreme Court, which overturned a temporary injunction against the Temporary Protected Status of Venezuelans.
In the largest single-order criminalization of migrants in U.S. history, the court cleared the way for the U.S. government to deport over 350,000 Venezuelans. The program was set to sunset in March 2026, but Trump has grown impatient to get deportation numbers up.
The Biden administration carried out more deportations and “returns” that Trump did in his first term, and despite current low numbers of border crossings into the U.S., Trump seems bent on one-upping his predecessor.
Migration apprehensions during the first few months of Trump’s administration plummeted to the lowest levels since the first few months of his first term. During his first term, that drop was temporary, and this time seems to be following a similar trend. Border Patrol apprehensions seem to have bottomed out in March, and are again slowly on the rise.
This time, however, the largest surveillance state on the planet just got a massive funding boost, and the powers of the presidency are stronger than ever.
You can also donate a one-time gift via “Buy Me a Coffee”. It only takes a few moments, and you can do so here.
Thanks for reading, and hasta pronto, piratas!
