Today, the White House released President Trump’s “skinny” FY 2026 budget—an outline that will shape FY2026 appropriations discussions ahead of the full request that is expected later this month. Mirroring the budget proposals Trump is pushing Congress to adopt with the reconciliation process, the White House proposal is rife with cuts to critical needs for communities in every part of the country, including for health, education, people with disabilities, and more, while advancing dramatic increases to immigration enforcement.
Jesse Franzblau, senior policy analyst with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), stated the following in response:
“The true vision of the White House is laid out plainly in this draconian budget proposal, which slashes funding for communities and vulnerable populations to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and contracts for the prison and border militarization industries. Shockingly, the budget projects that agencies expect hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars that are not yet approved by Congress, to pay for mass immigration detention and sweeping deportations. Even while Congress debates the Reconciliation funding, the White House is greenlighting massive overspending by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for new facilities with private prison companies, to detain families, for unlawful renditions and disappearances, targeted crackdowns on student protesters, and other programs trampling on people’s constitutional rights. Congress must do everything in its power to oppose this siphoning of funds for CEOs, and craft common sense appropriations bills that ensure federal services people deserve and protect the fundamental rights of our immigrant communities.”
The White House FY2026 includes some of the following provisions that directly impact immigrants:
- Cutting by nearly $2 billion ($1.97) all funding for refugees and unaccompanied children, who have already seen the elimination of legal representation and reunifications with their loved ones grind to a near halt due to the Trump administration’s anti-family policies;
- More than doubling the budget for the Department of Homeland Security (proposing $107.4 billion for FY26, an increase of $42.3 billion from FY25 levels);
- Usurping the reconciliation budget process to allocate an unprecedented proposed $175 billion—at least $43.8 billion of which would be spent in FY2026—to fund mass disappearances, build a wasteful and deadly border wall, and widen the use of harmful surveillance programs;
- Cutting funding by over $1 billion to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including over $650 million for the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) that has proven critical to cities and states nationwide who have welcomed new neighbors;
- Increasing Defense spending by 13%, including for border militarization in response to Trump’s racist and factually unsupported “invasion” declaration.