Donald Trump signed a new law this week that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) roughly $70bn in additional funding, bankrolling his mass deportation campaign through the end of his second term in what critics say amounts to a huge blow for accountability.
How is the funding divided?
About $26bn is going to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $38bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and $5bn more generally to DHS, with the funding available through 30 September 2029, about eight months after Trump is due to leave office. Although the law includes some appropriations for other responsibilities such as combating drug trafficking and child sexual exploitation, its focus is chiefly funding immigration enforcement.
How will the money be spent?
At US borders and entry points, the legislation includes more than $13bn for CBP's agents, support staff, and operations involving immigration enforcement. For policing inside the country, ICE is receiving more than $31bn for:
- ICE personnel enforcing immigration policy
- State and local law enforcement cooperation through highly controversial 287(g) agreements
- Government attorneys to argue for deportations
- Transportation costs for repatriations
- Information technology improvements
- Facility and fleet maintenance
- General necessary expenses for mission support
Among the law's most controversial provisions is at least $350m earmarked for necessary expenses related to enforcement in places that do not actively cooperate with federal immigration officials, likely targeting so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.
What isn't in the bill?
None of the funds can be used (except as mandated by law) to facilitate the release into the community of a broad swathe of immigrants, including through programs that might require ankle monitors or virtual check-ins but allow people to avoid long-term detention. Immigration advocates also say the law has omitted guardrails meant to hold agencies accountable, such as reporting requirements and congressional oversight of detention facilities.
Is this the first major cash influx under Trump 2.0?
No. So far, DHS has gotten about a quarter of a billion dollars from Congress amid Trump's second term. This new law follows HR 1, which funneled $170bn into immigration enforcement last summer. There may be more to come: amid the regular appropriations process for fiscal year 2027, Republicans are advocating for ICE and CBP to receive another multibillion-dollar payout.
Did any Democrats' demands make it into the law?
The legislation's passage caps off a months-long saga that included the longest DHS shutdown ever, as Democrats pushed for reforms after immigration officials killed two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, during roaming patrols in Minneapolis. Democrats wanted to:
- Require DHS officers to get judicial warrants before making arrests on private property
- Mandate verifying someone is not a US citizen before detaining them
- Ban immigration officials from hiding their faces with masks
- Bar enforcement near schools, medical facilities, and churches
- Stop DHS officers from profiling based on location, job, language, accent, race, or ethnicity
- Remove officers accused of use of force from the field during an investigation
- Mandate body-worn cameras for accountability
None of these measures made it into the bill, which passed through a partisan process requiring only 50 votes. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska was the only Republican who voted against it, saying it reduces Congress's ability to apply reasonable checks on immigration policy.
Has DHS changed its behavior since Minneapolis?
After former DHS secretary Kristi Noem's ousting, her replacement Markwayne Mullin aspired to turn down the volume on immigration enforcement, with less swaggering tactics but no less aggressive enforcement. Border czar Tom Homan told a crowd last month that mass deportations are coming and threatened to send more ICE agents to New York. ICE has remained in headlines as protesters and lawsuits highlight inedible food, inadequate medical care, and other inhumane conditions in detention facilities. DHS denies all allegations.
The administration also reportedly intends to advance plans to use warehouses bought under Noem for mass detention despite lawsuits and investigations.
Who is being affected?
While the Trump administration claims it targets the worst of the worst, as of early April, more than 70% of the 60,311 detainees had no criminal convictions. Advocates protest that the latest funding will widen who gets swept up and detained. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah of Global Refuge warned that without accountability, longtime residents, children, people with legal status, and even US citizens bear the brunt of the consequences.
