The dramatic surge in funding for immigration enforcement agencies puts spending at a level that rivals foreign military forces, creating a benchmark critics fear will serve as the norm for years to come.<\/p>\n
President Trump\u2019s “big, beautiful bill” triples funding<\/a> for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). <\/p>\n Its $30 billion now exceeds funding levels for the militaries of Canada and Turkey.<\/p>\n The bill likewise allocates $45 billion in funding for detention centers, allowing the U.S. to more than double its current capacity in the hopes of detaining more than 100,000 people. <\/p>\n It also designates roughly $47 billion for continuing construction of Trump\u2019s border wall<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cI think what we can’t even quite comprehend yet is what the human impact will be and the ways in which this money is going to further convert the United States into a police state for immigrant communities and beyond,\u201d Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center, told The Hill.<\/p>\n \u201cThey’re talking about creating a militarized environment for anyone in this country they believe to be worthy of deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n Border czar Tom Homan over the weekend told Politico<\/a> the bill is \u201cgoing to give us more resources and more boots on the ground, so when we have to go to these sanctuary cities, we want to send in many more agents in sanctuary cities. \u2026 It\u2019s going to ramp up deportations, because it\u2019s going to buy us some more beds to hold people. It is going to buy more transportation contracts to remove people more efficiently and quicker.\u201d <\/p>\n Jorge Loweree with the American Immigration Council said the funding levels aren\u2019t just historic \u2014 he\u2019s worried they could also become the baseline funding levels for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cThis infusion of more than $170 billion into our enforcement apparatus in a very short period of time is both historical, but also the reality is that in this country when we infuse a ton of resources into a law enforcement agency \u2014 into some kind of enforcement apparatus \u2014 that then becomes a new norm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the agency that we will be dealing with forever. We’ve effectively made immigration enforcement the top federal law enforcement priority of this country in terms of funding.\u201d<\/p>\n Both immigration advocates and Trump administration officials have referred to the funding levels as “unprecedented.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe unprecedented funding for ICE will enable my hardworking officers and agents to continue making America safe again by identifying, arresting and removing criminal aliens from our communities,\u201d acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said when the bill passed Congress earlier this month.<\/p>\n But Loweree said the funding levels go well beyond what ICE would need to comply with Trump\u2019s pledge to deport migrants with criminal histories, whom the president has referred to as \u201cthe worst of the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re seeing indiscriminate enforcement activity taking place in communities throughout the country. A lot of going after people that are just seeking work in a Home Depot parking lot \u2014 that type of activity \u2014 going after the low-hanging fruit. Because the reality is that there aren’t that many immigrants with criminal histories. There certainly aren’t that many with serious criminal histories in the U.S.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the harsh reality is that you can’t both have mass deportation and also focus enforcement resources on people with serious criminal histories. The numbers just aren’t there.\u201d <\/p>\n There\u2019s some debate as to just how quickly the bill will have an impact.<\/p>\n Even with an infusion of cash, it takes time to hire and train officers \u2014 raising the possibility the Trump administration may rely more heavily on contractors who don\u2019t have the same training or experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s going to change hugely, but not overnight,\u201d said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before this money, ICE and [U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] were not able to staff up to their previously allocated levels, and that was despite CBP offering significant bonuses, including signing and retention bonuses.\u201d <\/p>\n Beyond shortfalls in hiring, traditionally any new detention centers would also take years to build.<\/p>\n But Altman fears “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new facility<\/a> built deep within the Florida Everglades, could be the model for swiftly expanding detention capacity. Built in just days, the facility uses soft-sided tents with chain-link fence and contains cells crammed with bunk beds. <\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt boasted that the location is \u201cisolated, and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain\u201d \u2014 a nod to the swamp surrounding the property that is home to alligators, snakes and mosquitoes.<\/p>\n Altman said the facility was paid for by Florida, only to be covered by money set aside elsewhere in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget \u2014 reimbursed through funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have this clearly horrific, awful place to be detained that pops up seemingly overnight that isn’t even being done in contract with ICE that is fully paid for and managed by the state of Florida,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reconciliation bill, in addition to these types of money for ICE and CBP, also has $13.5 billion worth of funds that are available as reimbursement to state and local governments for immigration enforcement,\u201d Altman added.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we’re very concerned that the type of unaccountable, dangerous facility that we’re seeing popping up in the Everglades right now could be replicated in other states that want to have their own turn at playing at being as harmful and cruel to immigrants as they possibly can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Thirteen people have died in ICE detention this year. That includes the recent death a 75-year-old Cuban man<\/a> who had been in the U.S. since he was a child. Outside of ICE facilities, another man died<\/a> after falling 30 feet from a roof as ICE raided his workplace.<\/a><\/p>\n