Congress has passed a new law giving the Trump administration’s mass deportation agencies $70 billion in additional funding. Less than a year ago, Congress issued another blank check with taxpayer funds worth $170 billion for mass detention, border wall expansion, and Trump’s immigration crackdown. The Trump administration demanded the $70 billion under the pretext that Congress was unlikely to grant any annual appropriations funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). However, over 100 organizations raised alarm over plans in motion to advance $30 billion more for ICE and CBP for fiscal year 2027.
This endless windfall for ICE and CBP has come at the expense of health care and basic community needs while enabling widespread assault on civil and human rights and deaths in immigration detention with impunity.
For years, immigration related funding has had strings attached, restricting funding when abuses occur and requiring transparency and oversight to allow Congress and the public to monitor abuses by ICE and Border Patrol. But the unprecedented budget levels approved over the last year have been passed by Congress without restrictions.
Where have our taxpayer dollars gone?
We have seen how this funding has been used in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Minnesota, where large-scale operations led to thousands of arrests, widespread protests, and multiple violent incidents, including the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti and the death of Victor Manuel Diaz in custody.
Children have suffered at unprecedented levels at the hands of ICE and CBP. Roughly 205,000 children have experienced a parent’s detention under expanded ICE enforcement out of which 145,000 are U.S. citizens. Separations from parents have been linked to severe instability and even tragic deaths.
Deaths in immigration detention are rising. There are 19 reported deaths, suicides, or homicides in ICE custody alone as of mid-2026, making this year likely to be the deadliest year on record. Concerns are also compounded by ICE’s plan to expand the detention system to industrial warehouses that are not designed to house people and face widespread bipartisan resistance.
Congress Must Prioritize Communities, Divest from ICE & Border Patrol
Congress typically uses the regular appropriations process to set annual funding levels for federal agencies through a set of bipartisan bills. Over the last year, however, Congress has used the obscure budget reconciliation process, which allows additional funding for up to 10 years to pass the Senate with a simple majority, instead of the two-thirds needed for annual appropriations bills. In May, Congress made a landmark divestment from ICE and Border Patrol by cutting annual funds for these agencies in response to the public outcry over agents shooting down protesters. But federal lawmakers immediately set in motion the plan to pass another reconciliation bill to grant $70 billion for ICE and CBP for the remainder of Trump’s term (3 years).
Congress could have addressed pressing issues with $70 billion taxpayer funds—such as granting 2.2 million people Medicaid coverage, or covering the annual cost of groceries for approximately 10.7 million U.S. households. Instead, Congress gave this funding to already bloated ICE and CBP budgets.
Congress must prevent any more funding for ICE and Border Patrol and urgently redirect funds away from the abusive agencies and towards communities. In addition, Congress can re-claim its authority by applying restrictions and guardrails on already approved funding through the bipartisan appropriations process.
The following guardrails have been supported by both parties in the past and include the following:
- Allowing Oversight. Provisions that allow Congress to be able to see what is happening inside detention facilities by guaranteeing access to Members of Congress and their staff.
- Protecting Human Rights. People in custody must be treated safely and humanely, and it must start by prohibiting the shackling of pregnant and postpartum woman, and protecting the health of pregnant, nursing, and postpartum individuals and infants.
- Ending Impunity for Unsafe Facilities. Facilities, and the private prison companies that run them with inhumane conditions, should not keep getting public funds to operate as usual. Congress must ensure independent monitoring and cut contracts with facilities that fail consecutive inspections.
- Protecting the Public’s Right to Know. Congress must require regular public data on: the number of people in detention, detention conditions, key demographics, and more to ensure transparency, and allow for community engagement. This includes preventing the destruction of documents related to deaths, abuse, and misconduct.
- Ensuring Full Reporting of Deaths in Custody. All deaths and misconduct connected to ICE and CBP custody must be reported to Congress and publicly. ICE has recently stated that they will stop reporting deaths of recently released individuals, and CBP does not report publicly on deaths in their custody. ICE and CBP should include deaths that occur after transfers out of facilities to hospitals.
- Limiting Harmful Practices. Funding should not be allowed for harmful and discriminatory enforcement programs or tactics. This includes restricting federal funding for programs involving local police that lead to racial profiling as well as preventing military resources from being siphoned for immigration enforcement without oversight.
- Protecting Children and Families. Children should never be put at risk by ICE or CBP’s tactics. Congress must prevent ICE from using information taken directly or from other agencies about children and sponsors for enforcement purposes.
- Stopping Reckless Spending & Corruption. Congress must track how money is used by requiring regular reporting on ICE and CBP spending, U.S. Government Accountability Office audits, and justifications for spending on detention facilities and programs before signing any new contracts.
What Congress can do now
Congress is currently engaged in annual funding negotiations and must use this process to assert authority over how these agencies spend taxpayer dollars. It is imperative for Congress to ensure that not another dollar goes towards ICE or Border Patrol, hold these agencies accountable and redirect their funding to pay for pressing needs, such as addressing the affordability and health care crises.
Andrea Carcamo is senior policy counsel at NIJC.