$75 Billion for ICE, Cuts for Citizens: How the Big Ugly Law Betrays Americans
By Nishita Nekkanti, Congress Watch advocacy intern
Weeks ago, we saw travelers waiting for hours, flights being missed, and frustration building as TSA checkpoints grinded forward at a crawl. Behind the scenes, many of the officers who kept those lines even moving had been working without pay for weeks, while others were forced to stay home, unable to afford gas, childcare, or rent. What if we told you this isn’t just the result of a shutdown or dysfunction, but the consequences of deliberate policy choices? The same leaders presiding over this breakdown passed the Republican reconciliation package, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” last year, directing tens of billions of dollars toward expanding immigration enforcement while cutting deeply into the very programs and workers that keep everyday systems running.
The reconciliation package, which opponents have dubbed the “Big Ugly Law,” was passed in July of 2025 by Republican lawmakers – has become a means through which the conservative party can spread its anti-immigrant rhetoric and deportation agenda across the United States. It funneled an additional $75 billion into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The same bill was responsible for devastating cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that support American families in gaining access to affordable healthcare and necessary nutrition to pay for tax giveaways for billionaires.
Up until 2025, ICE received an annual average of about $10 billion as part of the Department of Homeland Security budget. Now, the agency has been allocated an additional $75 billion to be spent over a period of four fiscal years until 2029 – $45 billion for the construction of detention facilities and around $30 billion for operations like “hiring and training,” “recruitment,” and more. This takes their annual budget to a little over $28 billion, which is more than double what it was before the Big Ugly Law (BUL). To track current ICE accounts (i.e. obligations incurred, balance carried over, funding from other resources, total budgetary resources, etc.), see USA Spending for up-to-date information.
This expanded funding has been used to hire upwards of 12,000 officers in 2025, more than doubling the force from 10,000 officers to 22,000 (this number does not reflect hiring done since November 2025). Detention numbers have also increased from a little under 40,000 from the time Trump was inaugurated to over 70,000, with CBS reporting a record high of 73,000 detainees in January of 2026. Of those who are currently confined in holding facilities, 67,000 are estimated to be single adults while 6,000 are classified as family units with parents and underage children. To compensate for this rapid acceleration of detention for deportation purposes by the Trump administration, ICE has made efforts to expand holding capacity to upwards of 100,000 individuals on any given day, with plans to buy and renovate 16 existing buildings and acquire 10 “turnkey” facilities currently in operation for temporary detention. The agency also plans to open eight larger centers in which immigrants are forcefully held for an average of 60 days, serving as a base for immigrants being deported internationally.
Operations fueled by new investments and reduced governmental oversight from the Trump administration has led to more dangerous conditions, resulting in 2025 being ICE’s deadliest year in over two decades with 32 deaths in custody. That number is currently on track to be surpassed this year since 14 custody fatalities have already been reported in just the first three months of 2026.
While the government is funneling billions of dollars into mass deportations, countless Americans are facing the prospect of losing their medical insurance and SNAP benefits. Over the next 10 years, Medicaid is projected to lose $907.5 billion in funding while the SNAP program faces a 20% overall cut ($186 billion loss).
These wide-scale spending cuts are expected to cause significant harm to communities reliant on government programs, with 9.1 million individuals expected to lose health insurance by 2034 and an additional 2.4 million people unable to participate in the SNAP program each month. Healthcare providers and rural medical facilities are also at risk, and this could lead to these communities losing access to emergency care entirely in the case of hospital closures. This, combined with increased dependence on already strained food banks, will contribute to an increase in food insecurity, preventable hospitalizations, and medical debt, deepening economic instability for working families.
Now, after more than two months of debate, Senate and House Republicans have passed yet another budget resolution that allocates more money to defense spending – an additional $250 billion – and further increases the budget deficit. The bill also will essentially allow ICE to be funded outside of the regular appropriations process.
By redirecting billions of dollars in funding from essential programs like Medicaid and SNAP to ICE, the BUL has turned governmental assistance into a source of funding for mass deportations. Millions of Americans now face lost healthcare, food deserts, and collapsing local services. This is not responsible policy, but a deliberate choice by Republican lawmakers to prioritize their anti-immigrant agenda over representing constituent needs, leaving families and communities to bear the consequences.