ICE faces funding shortfall without budget reconciliation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made 32,809 arrests over the first 50 days of the Trump Administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Thursday. For context, ICE only made 33,242 arrests in ALL of fiscal year 2024. However, to keep its current pace, ICE desperately needs more funding before the end of the fiscal year.

According to a report this morning from Axios, ICE needs $2 billion over the next six months to continue to execute Pres. Trump's mass deportation plan. The continuing resolution (CR), which is expected to reach the president's desk this weekend, provides the agency with another $500 million in funding. That's still well short of the amount ICE says it needs.

The expected funding shortfall for ICE makes the budget reconciliation process that much more important if Pres. Trump hopes to deliver on one of his key campaign promises of deporting millions of illegal aliens. Both the House and Senate proposals would provide more than $100 billion in funding for immigration enforcement. But the two sides still need to agree on a plan that can pass through both chambers, and there are many other issues on the table, including tax reform, energy policy, and defense funding.

Congress set aside the budget reconciliation process over the last two weeks to work on the must-pass CR that will keep the government funded through September. Both chambers are on recess next week, but work on budget reconciliation should take center stage after the break.

More ICE funding is needed to hire additional ICE officers and to increase detention space. Currently, Congress funds approximately 40,000 detention beds, but White House Border Czar, Tom Homan, wants that number increased to 100,000. The administration planned to use the Marine base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to house detained illegal aliens, but a federal court has halted that plan for now. 

The administration would also like to hire additional immigration judges to deal with the massive backlog of asylum cases that were added to the docket during the Biden Administration's border crisis.

In the meantime, the Trump Administration is encouraging illegal aliens in the United States to self-deport. DHS has launched a massive public relations campaign, urging illegal aliens to return home or face removal proceedings. It also rebranded the CBP One app to allow illegal aliens to schedule their self-deportation. Would-be illegal border crossers used the app during the Biden Administration to schedule appointments to enter the United States at ports of entry. Read the full story on the new “CBP Home” app below.

Immigration News

Trump sees best border numbers ever, major reductions of migrants in all categories
With the latest CBP report on illegal encounters, we now have the complete picture of illegal immigration in the first full month of the Trump Administration. Stephen Dinan at the Washington Times breaks down the data on illegal entries nationwide for the month of February, and the numbers are historically low across the board. We’ve included our chart showing the encounters nationwide (at ports of entry and in-between) since FY 2014, and it speaks for itself.

DHS Launches CBP Home App with Self-Deport Reporting Feature
In a brilliant move this week, the Department of Homeland Security updated the infamous CBP One app (which was used to funnel millions of inadmissible aliens into the country) and renamed it “CBP Home.” Along with ending the illegal CBP One parole program, DHS’s improved mobile app now includes a “self-deportation” feature, assisting aliens in their voluntary return home. If you’re wondering why an illegal alien would use that feature, Secretary Noem explains: 

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

Foreign-Born Number and Share of U.S. Population at All-Time Highs in January 2025
Our friends at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) dropped a bombshell report this week, showing that the foreign-born population in the United States has now hit a record high of 15.8%, overshadowing the previous peaks in 1890 and 1910. Camarota and Zeigler demonstrate that the foreign-born population grew by 8.3 million in the last four years, compared to 1.6 million during the first Trump Administration. That increase was largely driven by illegal immigration.

Immigration accounted for all U.S. population growth in 2022-23, first time since 1850
While CIS is our gold standard for immigration research, the left-leaning Migration Policy Institute (MPI) similarly grabbed headlines this week for its own population study. While MPI estimated the foreign-born population lower than CIS, what drew NBC’s attention was their conclusion that all population growth from 2022-2023 was a result of immigration, not births, for the first time since 1850. 

Border czar on Columbia arrest: ‘Absolutely we can’ deport a legal immigrant
This week, there were many headlines about the immigration arrest of a lawful permanent resident (LPR or green card holder) for leading pro-Hamas efforts at Columbia University. There have been many misleading media narratives on how visa restrictions apply to aliens in the country, and in this article, Border Czar Tom Homan explains how having a green card does not mean the alien is no longer subject to the deportability provisions of immigration law.

California’s Insurance Tax Shuffle: How Federal Money Ends Up Paying for Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants
Finally, our friends at the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) released a study showing how California uses a shell game to funnel billions of dollars to illegal aliens, effectively “laundering” federal tax dollars. We highly recommend the read!

Next Week

Both the House and Senate are on recess.