Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reportedly already $2 billion short of meeting its current operational pace through the end of the fiscal year, as it works to keep up with the Trump administration’s promises to deport millions of undocumented migrants quickly.
The immigration agency could receive a $500 million infusion as part of ongoing government funding negotiations in Congress, but that would not close the gap, according to Axios.
“The bed space alone becomes significant. And just detaining people for a couple of days while they are processed, and then being able to move them out on flights… is extremely expensive,” Oklahoma Senator James Lankford told the outlet.
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, could redirect funding from other component agencies such as the Coast Guard or the Federal Emergency Management Agency to immigration efforts.
The agency announced this week that it is already thousands of beds above its maximum detention capacity and is holding approximately 47,000 detainees awaiting deportation.
An ICE official told reporters that the agency is collaborating with federal partners from the Defense Department, Marshals Service, and Bureau of Prisons to increase bed capacity.
If ICE continues to deport at its current rate, additional funding and facility expansion will most likely be necessary.
According to Reuters, it has made approximately 32,000 immigration arrests since Trump took office, a faster rate than during the Biden administration’s final fiscal year.
“We need the money to continue, do not we?” Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said earlier this month. “ICE is already in the hole, and we need Congress to step up and give us the funding we need so President Trump will keep his promise to American people.”
At the same time, some of the agency’s deportation efforts have been scaled back. In February, the government cleared out facilities housing migrants at the Guantánamo Bay naval station, amid a lawsuit accusing officials of denying migrants access to legal counsel.
If the administration’s plans are implemented, ICE may face additional challenges.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that fully enforcing the recently passed Laken Riley Act, which significantly expands the ranks of those held in detention before deportation to include those accused of low-level crimes, will cost $26.9 billion.
The White House is also reportedly preparing to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a law that grants broad powers for mass deportations with little oversight, a provision that has only been used during wartime.
