President Donald Trump’s push for expanded immigration enforcement is being driven by a major Republican tax and spending package that, an Associated Press analysis says, is financing ICE growth and a broader federal law-enforcement footprint.
The analysis describes an ICE expansion that is funded with billions allocated through the “big tax and spending cuts bill” passed by Republicans, and it ties that money to specific manpower and operations targets. The bill includes hiring bonuses of $50,000 and is associated with ICE growing to about 22,000 officers—larger than most police departments, according to the AP’s reporting.
Budget experts cited by the AP characterized the scale of the funding as unusual for immigration enforcement. Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress and a former adviser to the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget, said, “I just don’t think people have a sense of the scale,” and added that “We’re looking at ICE in a way we’ve never seen before.” Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said the increased spending typically happens for the military, adding that “Trump is militarizing immigration enforcement.”
As the funding ramps up, the AP reported that immigration enforcement is increasingly unfolding away from the Mexico border. It said border crossings have fallen to historic lows under Trump, but enforcement is moving into cities through federal, state, and local partnerships arranged through Homeland Security. The AP described armed and masked officers in places including Los Angeles and Chicago, and it reported that other agencies—through contract partnerships with Homeland Security—are participating in enforcement operations in communities around the nation.
The expansion has also intensified political and public backlash. The AP linked the reach of the “federalized force” to protests following the Minneapolis shooting death of Renee Good, and it reported that amid demonstrations, Trump revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell unrest. The AP said the U.S. Army has 1,500 soldiers ready to deploy in the context it described.
Members of Congress have argued about how to respond to the enforcement. Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., said at a Capitol press conference with lawmakers backing legislation to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that “Public sentiment is everything” and that, “They didn’t sign on for this.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned Democrats against stirring opposition, saying, “They need to get out of the way and allow federal law enforcement to do its duty.”
Homeland Security and ICE officials have maintained that officers are acting lawfully and targeting criminals, using language in the AP report that refers to the “worst of the worst” immigrants. The AP also reported that other accounts show non-criminals and U.S. citizens being forcibly detained, and it noted that the Supreme Court last year lifted a ban on using race alone in immigration stops. The AP further said the administration set a goal of 100,000 detentions a day—about three times what it described as typical—and seeks 1 million deportations a year.
In Congress, the AP report said Democrats have faced limits on using legislation to curtail enforcement because of Republican control, including an assessment that impeachment efforts are not currently viable. It said stopping the spending would be difficult even if Congress tried to threaten government shutdown, and described the funding as largely set to run on “autopilot” through 2029, when Trump is scheduled to leave office.
The AP also said the legislation effectively doubled annual Homeland Security funding, adding $170 billion over four years. It reported that ICE, which typically receives about $10 billion a year, was provided $30 billion for operations and $45 billion for detention facilities, and that the department has begun drawing on the money while meeting recruitment and staffing targets. In a December statement, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “The good news is that thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country.”
The AP reported that Homeland Security informed Congress it had obligated roughly $58 billion, with about $37 billion for border wall construction, citing a person familiar with a private assessment. It also said the department announced it had arrested and deported about 600,000 people and reported that 1.9 million other people had “voluntarily self-deported” since January 2025.
Ahead of the next funding vote cycle, the AP said Congress was preparing to consider a routine annual Homeland Security funding package unveiled Tuesday or risk a partial shutdown on Jan. 30. It reported that Democratic senators and the Congressional Progressive Caucus said they would not support additional funds without changes, and it described proposals that would restrict arrests near hospitals, courthouses, churches and other sensitive locations and require officers to display proper identification and refrain from wearing face masks.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told CNN that, “I think ICE needs to be totally torn down,” and he said people want immigration enforcement focused on criminals rather than what he called this “goon squad.”