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How ICE’s massive cash infusion is poised to transform America.

How ICE’s massive cash infusion is poised to transform America
Republicans gave $45 billion to help ICE detain hundreds of thousands of immigrants — and another $100 billion to further supercharge Trump’s mass deportations.

July 7, 2025, 5:00 AM CDT
By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Writer/Editor

With a cash infusion of around $150 billion toward immigration enforcement and border security in last week’s budget bill, congressional Republicans handed the Trump administration the resources needed to carry out its mass deportation policy. The intended result is as aggressive as it is likely transformative: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is slated to become the largest law enforcement agency in the country as dozens of new detention centers spring up to hold hundreds of thousands of immigrants awaiting expulsion.

In the six months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, there has been a surge in ICE raids, detentions and removals. The majority of targets in this increase are not the hardened criminals that MAGA supporters and administration officials claim. Shifts in policy have already stripped hundreds of thousands of immigrants of their legal protections to remain in the country. But the wide-ranging sweeps ICE has launched in churches, at farms and in Home Deport parking lots still haven’t resulted in enough arrests to satisfy White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who has spent weeks insisting that more dedicated resources are needed to meet his goal of 3,000 arrests per day.

Republicans gave Miller the tools he wants when they passed their budget reconciliation bill Thursday. The two largest buckets of funding in the act provide $45 billion each toward building Trump’s border wall and vastly expanding America’s immigration detention capacity. By comparison, that’s more than 13 times the current annual ICE budget for detention ($3.4 billion) and more than five times the entire annual budget of the Federal Bureau of Prisons ($8.6 billion).

An estimate from the American Immigration Council determines that if the money allocated is spread out to roughly $14 billion per year, then it would be enough for ICE to maintain around 116,000 beds. At present, the agency’s budget supports it holding about 41,000 detainees. Notably, though, those capacity figures assume that every detainee is granted a bed. There are reports of inhumane conditions in existing detention centers, where there were 56,000 immigrants in custody as of June 15. In other words, we could easily see the number of detainees more than double to fill the expanded capacity in hastily built detention centers.

Once this new funding hits ICE’s accounts, it will likely be spent as quickly as possible — with little oversight for how it’s doled out. The New York Times reported in April that ICE has already asked contractors for “proposals to provide new detention facilities, transportation, security guards, medical support and other administrative services worth as much as $45 billion over the next two years.” Much of that money will go toward private companies contracted to build and run these facilities, some of which have been major political backers for Trump and the GOP.

Beyond the funding for detention, there’s more money still. An analysis from the Washington Office on Latin America notes that ICE will also be getting $15 billion devoted toward physically removing migrants from the country. (Whether that is to their country of origin or some random third state is apparently a matter for the administration to decide, according to a recent Supreme Court decision.) Another $16.2 billion will be for the Department of Homeland Security to hire new ICE, Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents. About $8 billion of that will be for ICE to hire 8,500 new officers with another $860 million for paying recruitment and retention bonuses and $600 million for expanding the agency’s hiring capacity.

Local and state officers are getting in on the gold rush, with $3.5 billion dedicated toward compensating states for detaining noncitizens and $10 billion to reimburse border states for hardening their borders. Given how eagerly sheriff’s offices and police departments compete for federal funding for other programs, it’s likely that many will leap at the chance to share in this bonanza.

Indeed, the keenest horror is that there’s now such a clear financial incentive to be in the deportation business. Catching and deporting migrants is set to be a growth industry, and the urge to see a return on the investment will help keep the machine moving. The current private prison pipeline will pale in comparison to the churn that will be needed to keep these camps filled with not just the undocumented, but the denaturalized and newly stateless, victims of the administration’s efforts to deny birthright citizenship and strip their political enemies of their rights. It will be the job of the newly hired ICE agents to find the people to transform into numbers on their monthly quota report.

Already investors can see that the potential fiscal returns for exploiting human suffering are higher than they’ve been in over 150 years. As of last month, according to The Associated Press, “CoreCivic’s stock has risen in price by 56% and Geo’s by 73%” since Trump’s win last year. Those numbers are only likely to increase as a flood of cash comes gushing into the gulf between morality and maximized profits.

It’s worth noting that this is all still in the realm of potential outcomes, despite the amount of money that will now be sloshing around the system. NBC News reported last month that ICE has been struggling to retain the agents it has, let alone expand the number it can hire. Moreover, filling those new billets wouldn’t happen overnight. A 2017 report from the DHS Office of the Inspector General noted with some skepticism that to hire 10,000 new ICE agents as Trump wanted even then, there’d need to be at least 500,000 applicants. But the money that Congress has now authorized means that Miller’s dreams at least have the potential to be actualized.

Those funds Republicans have so thoughtlessly turned over in exchange for lower tax rates are now poised to transform America. More crops will rot on the vines as ICE raids become a more regular occurrence and the number of people doing the work dwindles. It’s the wrongful deportations like that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and so many others that have drawn most of our focus to date. But it’s the supposed successes that this bill enables that will test our character as a nation.
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missyann · 56-60
@JSul3 I also support a number of organizations. What does that have to do with anything?

I support the rule of law and due process. My question is, how do you know that the immigrants in question have NOT ever received due process? Can you prove that they have never stood before an immigration judge? We the public have no idea how many have deportation orders from years ago and no one ensured that they were deported. They may have been working and living here for years but that doesn’t mean they don’t have pending deportation orders. Are you saying that they are entitled to a new hearing?

I know that there are some great responsible hardworking immigrants in our country but how do we determine (with the exception of known gang members and violent criminals ) who they are ? Everyone can find witnesses to say that they are “ good innocent and hardworking “. Employers don’t always know what they do outside of work .
Sometimes even family and don’t always know

immigrants who are here legally but haven’t received asylum or citizenship yet are expected to follow the law .Some Immigration laws may seem a little harsh but they are simple. Don’t commit a crime, don’t lie on forms demonstrate that you will not become a “ public charge “ meaning you will not use public assistance and that you are not affiliated with or entertain criminals, or criminal activity. Ect….. They have a right to prove these changes are wrong and they can hire an attorney but they are NOT entitled to a public defender

In order for you not to say that they are just being snatched from the streets unjustly you have to know each individual case.
The media in this country on both sides is biased. No one can say for certain what is going on without personal knowledge and this is so disgusting and sad but it is a FACT
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@SatanBurger I understand what you're attempting to do, but these peoole don't have empathy. I'm not here to teach MAGA humanity. MAGA ain't got no humanity.
So I'll point out their hypocrisy instead, and shame them publicly, and be cruel to them.
Because what they do to my people is cruel, and here I invoke Lex Talionis. The cruelty after all is the point.
SatanBurger · 36-40, F
@basilfawlty89 You're right. I also don't think they even care what evidence there is. They likely don't watch the videos I post or check out anything. They just want to hate. They read all of two sentences that's why they keep repeating the same lies.

They seem real entitled, imagine having the audacity to complain about people wanting a little food from their home country as a mere comfort in a strange country that hates them for existing and thinking it actually inconveniences you as a person. I couldn't imagine that there's people walking around with that large of chip on their shoulder.

That's wild I'm sorry.
JSul3 · 70-79
@missyann I posted the list earlier in reply to your comment about Denver.
Perhaps you need to read it again.
Their demands sound pretty normal to me.
Would you not like to cook your own food....have shower access....make sure your kids get to/from school...etc.?
missyann · 56-60
@Baremine o I don’t think we should change the laws. We need more judges all along the border to make this “ due process everyone keeps b****ing about work quicker and maybe publish why they were apprehended their names date of hearing and the final outcome Somehow prove that the ‘“ illegals have had their due process hearings

Explain the laws we have written, so that they’re clear and people can understand them
Maybe explain what the words illegal and
Criminal activity actually means. Because a lot of the people DON’T know what they mean by Violation 8 US code 1325 says illegal entry, which is a misdemeanor a misdemeanor, is still a crime.
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missyann · 56-60
@basilfawlty89 @JSul3 This is the most outrageous BS I have heard from the left in a while. This is exactly what makes people throw their hands up and say. NO MORE. You don’t break into someone’s home and if they offer you a bologna sandwich, say no I want a New York strip. You accept that baloney sandwich with a humble heart and say.
“ thank you “

An illegal criminal is in no position to demand anything. Do you want specific food ? Fine, go buy the food you want. You want to cook your own food, fine, you find pots and pans a big spoon start a fire, and have at it. You want unlimited shower time? Fine, when you can live someplace where unlimited showers are an option. Stay in there all day. But until then you accept the food you were given and thank the people who cook it for you and appreciate the shower time you have.

We have enough entitlement from our own citizens. We most certainly don’t need to accept it from criminals. YES I mean CRIMINALS !!!! The left acts like every time we say, criminals, that we mean, murderers and rapists. A criminal is someone who breaks our laws. Like I don’t know, perhaps, breaking and entering, stealing Social Security numbers, lying on legal government forms abusing public assistance programs drug and alcohol offenses ect…..

I have absolutely no problem with my tax money being used to pay for our veterans. I believe veterans should have free healthcare. and rooms at hotels that are given to illegal criminals should go to homeless veterans. Just because the administration is not taking care of the veterans in the exact way, I think they should doesn’t mean that I don’t give money and support charities, who take care of veterans. Just because the Trump administration doesn’t do everything exactly the way I think they should do it. That doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t vote for them. No administration does everything exactly the way everyone thinks they should

American taxpayer money should be used for American Citizen and when I wish additions are taken care of, then we can help other countries But I’ll be damned if I ever support my taxpayer money being used to support illegal criminals. You want illegal, criminals taking care of them. You personally finance them

As I watch the illegal criminalBS expanding I also see the Trump agenda on illegal, criminals, expanding, and it can’t come soon enough
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@missyann you pipe down right now, or I will not be polite anymore and it will be my turn to get angry.

I will not have An Gorta Mór denied.
My ancestors had to flee Connachta where we had been before any Anglo-Saxons or Normans were near the Isles.
The potato crops failed, we had no other food. The other crops we did grow was banned for Gaelic Irish to consume and forcefully exported. Then we were evicted because we couldn't sell anything because it was confiscated to pay for the rent and taxes the bailiff and the landlord demanded at inflationary prices.

You know nothing of Irish history.
missyann · 56-60
@basilfawlty89 my great grandmother immigrated from Ireland

I understand that your ancestors struggled. You do not have the same struggles today. There is no potato crisis today. Get mad all you want. Everyone’s ancestors had struggles.

Immigration issues today. Have nothing to do with your ancestors struggles.
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22Michelle · 70-79, T
Give it a few years and you'll find the money has been spent, but the deportations and wall etc haven't happened. Just a lot of the Trump family and Republican donors will be much richer.
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
Once this new funding hits ICE’s accounts, it will likely be spent as quickly as possible — with little oversight for how it’s doled out. The New York Times reported in April that ICE has already asked contractors for “proposals to provide new detention facilities, transportation, security guards, medical support and other administrative services worth as much as $45 billion over the next two years.”

It'll be like 2020 all over again . . nothing like a public "crisis" to keep the profit margins healthy.
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@Reason10 I am referring of course to the unregulated free-for-all in government contracts that ensued from the pandemic. When businesses suddenly reinvented themselves as specialists in health supplies and were allowed to make eye-watering profits out of re-selling substandard PPE to their governments.

I am a self-employed contractor and "hang out" with pension investors . . pensions are of course an important part of the welfare system. Had it not been for populist idiots like Trump, Johnson and Truss trashing investor confidence over the past five years, I would by now have attained my own investment objectives and probably be teaching maths to high school students.
Reason10 · 70-79, M
@SunshineGirl I am referring of course to the unregulated free-for-all in government contracts that ensued from the pandemic.

Give us a reliable link to that theory. Unregulated free for all? I don't think you even know what that means?


When businesses suddenly reinvented themselves as specialists in health supplies and were allowed to make eye-watering profits out of re-selling substandard PPE to their governments.


We'll need a reliable link to the idea that a business "suddenly reinvents itself..." To bring you up to speed with simple economics, DEMAND for the masks skyrocketed. So the price went up and a lot of them were sold. That accounts for mask companies making eye-watering profits.


Had it not been for populist idiots like Trump, Johnson and Truss trashing investor confidence over the past five years, I would by now have attained my own investment objectives and probably be teaching maths to high school students.

Apparently those at your welfare office have been smoking meth. The Stock Market is at record highs, thanks to President Trump.
SunshineGirl · 36-40, F
@Reason10

https://natlawreview.com/article/ppe-fraud-rise-during-coronavirus-pandemic

The stock market is a poor indicator of general economic health, as Trump himself was at pains to point out in April when the S&P 500 closed 20% lower than at the start of 2025. Fluctuations in stock price indices are however an indication of general instability.
They now have a bigger budget than the bureau of prisons and the US is the world's largest penal colony as it is.
Republicans gave $45 billion to help ICE detain hundreds of thousands of immigrants

They aren't detaining "immigrants"...they are detaining, processing and deporting illegal aliens...criminals...all of them.

Nobody is above the law, right?
JSul3 · 70-79
@BizSuitStacy
What are the charges against each and every person?

Do you know?

I already know you don't care.
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Pherick · 41-45, M
Pretty sure we as a country are fucked for the forseeable future. Its not hard to chart a path forward for us, looking back at history, and even from mostly current events, of a path that leads to the ruin of this nation.

Being 45 years old, I honestly wonder if this will still be the United States of America when I die in (hopefully) 40+ years.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
Lots of deleted comments!!
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JSul3 · 70-79
@Baremine You still get due process.
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JSul3 · 70-79
@Baremine The Constitution and Rule of Law disagree with you.

You do support the Constitution and the rule of law, correct?
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
All told, it appears that with these new funds, ICE will become the largest "law enforcement" agency in the country, let that sink in. It will be bigger than the FBI!
JSul3 · 70-79
@samueltyler2 The FBI has been cut too.
Don't expect them to keep America safe.
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basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@missyann undocumented immigration is not a criminal case, it's a civil case. It's also in most cases a misdemeanour, not a felony.

It's despicable that you'd compare a guy coming to the US to pick fruit to feed his family with a child molestation.
You're minimizing and trivializing child abuse and should be ashamed.
SatanBurger · 36-40, F
@missyann Never said they were the only people but maga are technically the only ones to make generalizations while committing the same acts you tell others abhor. Everyone is a hypocrite sometimes but you lot? You're on another level to the point it should be classified as delusional. Not everyone is like that but all maga seem to be unique in the fact that they're like that.

And you did say once that one bad apple spoils the bunch your words not mine lady. You have to live with your own choices whether you like it or not
basilfawlty89 · 36-40, M
@SatanBurger oh it's fine.
If one bad apple spouls the bunch, then it applies to all MAGA. After this is over amd the US version of the Nuremberg Trials happen, they'll all be treated as guilty who participated in this. And those who just supported it will end up like the Nazis old like Schwarzenegger mentioned - sad, tired, broken old men.
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JSul3 · 70-79
@BizSuitStacy LOL!

BS BSS: If one has broken the law, you arrest them, press charges, they get a lawyer, and a court of law determines their fate based upon the evidence presented, and a judge or jury makes the decision.....not you.
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JSul3 · 70-79
@Baremine Your Orange Traitor and Felon Trump is bypassing the law that is guaranteed by the Constitution.....it's called due process.

You do support the Constitution and the rule of law, correct?
Baremine · 70-79, C
@JSul3 I do support the constitution and due process, BUT illegal aliens are not protected by the construction.
And speaking of traitors, who the hell was running the country the last four years because it sure as hell wasn't Biden. His mind was toast.
Patriot96 · 56-60, C
Good, im glad they will be undoing what ols SCHITZENHIZPANTZ fucked up
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JSul3 · 70-79
@BizSuitStacy Show me the hardened criminals being arrested.

You can't
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JSul3 · 70-79
@BizSuitStacy
Examples:

A guy cutting the grass at a chain restaurant, who has three sons serving in the US Marines.....a woman who has been part of her community for decades, swept up from her front yard....folks in CA picking strawberries in the fields....students attending school...a guy from Canada that died in ICE custody....a woman from Iran about to be married...etc
tenente · 36-40, M
one day we’re gonna all look back at this and cry and have violent stress induced diarrhea ❤
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@Reason10 Ronnie knows what made us great.

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