Throwing money at ICE likely not wise

The Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate recently approved another $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol operations through use of a reconciliation budget measure that allows the majority to avoid the 60-vote threshold ordinarily required in the U.S. Senate for passage of legislation.

The $70 billion is a multiyear appropriation intended to fund ICE and the Border Patrol until 2029 or the remainder of the Trump Administration. It was done to avoid ICE and Border Patrol funding opposition from Democrats should they gain control of the House and perhaps the Senate in the 2028 General Election. The funding is on top of a $140 billion multiyear appropriation for ICE and the Border Patrol in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill approved by the Republican majority again using a budget reconciliation measure. The two measures combined constitute a 300% increase over the last Biden Administration budget for ICE and the Border Patrol.

The added funding for ICE and the Border Patrol has resulted in ICE hiring 12,000 new officers and agents through the lure of large recruitment and retention bonuses making ICE our nation’s largest law enforcement agency. Meanwhile, the Border Patrol has declined in total employees the last two years. ICE is now purchasing large warehouses and up to 170,000 beds to confine undocumented residents as a part of the Trump Administrations mass deportation initiative.

The rapid and substantial increase in Ice and Border Patrol funding was approved by the Republican members of the US House and Senate in response to the Trump Administration’s priorities but not without consequences. The One Big Beautiful Bill reduced SNAP and Medicaid funding by $1 trillion over 10 years to offset the bill’s reduction in taxes and increased spending on Homeland Security and national defense. The bill and subsequent appropriations have already added over $2 trillion to our national debt and trillions more are projected over the next few years.

The potential for inefficiency, waste, graft and corruption in ICE and Border Patrol spending accompanies the 300% increase in funding.
Reports of excessive profiteering by private detention center operators and warehouse owners are already surfacing. No bid ICE contracts worth millions of dollars are being awarded. In the absence of the most dedicated and expert managers, it is an unmanageable task for any institution to increase spending at triple the current billions of dollars without wasteful and corrupt spending occurring.

The abrupt increase in ICE and Border Patrol funding also creates the potential for abusive and illegal attacks on American citizens. Former Democratic U.S. House leader Dick Gephardt recently sounded the alarm regarding the September 25, 2025, National Presidential Security Memorandum which targets Americans whose sponsors are labeled “anti-American, anti-capitalists, anti-Christian or hostile to traditional American views on family, religion and morality”. Billions of dollars have been allocated under Homeland Security to pursue investigations into suspected “enemies” although all the targeted views are protected under the First Amendment. The recent indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and the federal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan should give us cause for concern.

SPLC has long been a leading civil rights organization leading the way in ferreting out right- and left-wing militias and terrorist groups as well as defending countless victims of civil rights violations. American citizens exercising freedom of both popular and unpopular freedom of expression would not face illegal investigations and potential indictments if billions in Homeland security slush funds were not available for the government sponsored lawlessness.