Congress passed President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill on Thursday — legislation that balloons the budget for immigration enforcement to more than ten times its current size.
The bill allocates more than $100 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border enforcement through September 2029, Axios reported. The roughly 1,000% increase to ICE's $8 billion budget makes ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency, according to the Brennan Center.
"With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined," wrote Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Senior Fellow at American Immigration Council.
Celebrating the bill's passage, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk quoted an insider who told him, "This makes the border court proof. We have a standing army."
The administration's aggressive push for immigration crackdown — with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller famously demanding 3,000 immigrant arrests per day — has strained ICE's existing budget. Last month the agency was reported to exceed its allocated funding by $1 billion.
Now, the new funding could double detention capacity, dramatically increase enforcement personnel and fuel broader crackdowns.
Nearly $30 billion will be invested in hiring and training ICE agents and investigators, as well as updates to transportation and technology used by the agency.
$45 billion is marked for detention centers, with the number of beds expected to rise to 116,000. Congress previously allocated funds for 41,500 beds, but in June, CBS reported ICE detention centers had already reached 140% capacity.
The border wall will receive $46.5 billion for construction, renovations and surveillance equipment. Border crossings in June reached a historic low, with just over 6,000 arrests.
Funding for immigration judges and attorneys pales in comparison to the increased financing for arrest and detainment. $3.3 billion will go toward immigration courts, with a cap limiting immigration judges and support staff to 800. The American Immigration Council warns the budget disparity is likely to "dramatically increase already high immigration court case backlogs."
The Big Beautiful Bill passed both chambers largely on party lines, marking one of the largest expansions of immigration enforcement funding in U.S. history.
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