🚨 ICE's $75 Billion Budget Now Rivals World Top 15 Militaries—While Medicaid Gets Slashed
$45 billion for detention centers while families lose healthcare—the math of American cruelty
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🇺🇸💸➡️👮♂️🚔 ICE got a $75 billion budget, more than most countries' armies! While they're building more jails 🏢 and hiring agents, healthcare and food aid are getting cut 🍎🏥💔.
ICE's budget is bigger than Russia's and the UK's military 💂♂️. The funds will lead to more arrests and family separations, with private jails profiting 💵🔒. Many are protesting, urging money to support communities, not harm them 🙅♀️✊.
🗝️ Takeaways
ICE's new $75 billion budget over four years surpasses the military spending of most world nations, including Russia and the UK
$45 billion allocated explicitly for detention centers—13 times ICE's current detention budget and more than the entire federal prison system
Private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group are expected to profit massively from new contracts
The bill cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid while funding unprecedented immigration enforcement expansion
ICE aims for 3,000 arrests per day, targeting workers at Home Depots and other gathering places
New "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in Florida Everglades represents the future of remote, isolated detention
54% of Americans believe ICE operations have already gone "too far," indicating growing resistance
When La Migra Gets a Military-Sized Budget: ICE Now Outspends Most of the World's Armies
By Three Sonorans
From the Borderlands of Southern Arizona
You're sitting in your kitchen in Tucson, scrolling through your phone while your café de olla cools, and you see a headline that makes you spit out your coffee all over your abuela's tablecloth.
ICE—yes, la migra, the same agency that terrorizes our communities—just got handed a budget so massive it now rivals the military spending of entire nations.
We're not talking about a little bump in funding. We're talking about $75 billion over four years, with $45 billion specifically for detention centers. That's more money than Russia spends on its entire military.
Let that sink in, compadres.
The Numbers That Should Make You Muy Enojado
According to recent congressional analysis, Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" just passed through Congress, allocating unprecedented funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The breakdown is as staggering as it is terrifying:
$45 billion for detention facilities - that's 13 times ICE's current detention budget
$29.9 billion for hiring and training ICE personnel - expect thousands more agents hunting our gente
$46.5 billion for border wall expansion - because apparently the existing wall wasn't racist enough
To put this in perspective, ICE's new budget surpasses the military spending of all but 15 countries worldwide. That means ICE now has more funding than the entire militaries of countries like the United Kingdom ($55 billion), India ($54 billion), and yes, Russia (~$45 billion).
¿En serio? An immigration enforcement agency in the so-called "land of the free" now has a bigger budget than most sovereign nations use to defend themselves.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military expenditure reached $2,718 billion in 2024. ICE's new annual budget of approximately $18.75 billion (spread over four years) would rank it among the world's top military spenders—higher than countries like Australia, Poland, and Israel's pre-war budget.
So What Does This Actually Mean?
As immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick told Democracy Now!, this funding represents "nearly 20 years' worth of detention funding to be spent only in a four-year period." The plan is to more than double ICE's detention capacity from 56,000 beds to potentially 150,000 or more.
But here's where it gets realmente jodido: nearly 90% of people in ICE custody are held in facilities run by for-profit companies. Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group are already seeing their stock prices surge in anticipation of these contracts.
¡Qué convenient! Nothing says "land of opportunity" like profiting off human misery.
The Intercept reports that the Trump administration is targeting 3,000 arrests per day—an unprecedented pace that would make even the most hardened coyote weep. Stephen Miller, that modern-day architect of family separation, has specifically directed agents to target workers at Home Depots and other gathering places where undocumented workers seek employment.
Because apparently, arresting people trying to feed their families is now a national security priority.
The Militarization of Nuestra Frontera
From my casita here in the Sonoran Desert, down the street is an existing border wall cutting through the desert like a scar across Madre Tierra. The wall disrupts animal migration patterns, destroys sacred sites, and has turned our ancestral homelands into a militarized zone. And now, with an additional $46.5 billion allocated for border wall construction, that scar is about to get a lot deeper.
Pero wait, there's more.
The bill also includes $3.3 billion for hiring immigration judges—but caps the number at 800 judges. The Congressional Research Service estimated that over 1,300 judges would be necessary to eliminate the current backlog, which stands at nearly 4 million cases. So we're building more cages faster than we're building courtrooms.
That's not justice; that's just muy pinche cruel.
When Cruelty Becomes the Point
Vice President JD Vance literally said that "everything else — the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy — is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions."
Let that sink in. Everything else—healthcare, education, infrastructure—is immaterial compared to hunting down immigrants.
Meanwhile, the same bill cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and makes the largest cuts to food stamps in decades. So, while families are losing healthcare and struggling to put food on the table, the government is spending military-level funding to cage other families.
The math is simple: less money for healing, more money for harm.
As detention watch activists note, "ICE will now have 13 times its current fiscal budget for detention, which is already operating at a historic high." This isn't about border security—it's about creating a massive detention-industrial complex that profits from human suffering.
The Broader Picture: Who Benefits?
Let's be crystal clear about who's getting rich off this desmadre.
The Jacobin reports that the lion's share of this $75 billion will go directly to private contractors. These companies have been waiting for this moment, and their stock prices reflect it.
According to NBC News, the bill includes $8 billion specifically to hire an additional 10,000 ICE employees over five years—a 50% increase in the agency's workforce. That's $858 million in signing and retention bonuses alone. Meanwhile, teachers, social workers, and healthcare providers struggle with underfunded salaries and overwhelming caseloads.
The cruel irony?
ICE was already $2 billion over budget before this massive funding increase. As one immigration expert told Axios, "They are already spending the money as irresponsibly as you possibly could. So I have no doubt they will spend the money as quickly as they possibly can."
Alligator Alcatraz and the Geography of Suffering
While Congress was passing this bill, Trump was busy touring what he calls "Alligator Alcatraz"—a new detention center in the Florida Everglades.
This facility, located in what was once pristine wetland, represents the future of immigration detention: remote, isolated facilities designed to keep human suffering out of sight and out of mind.
The symbolism is tan obvio it hurts.
They're literally building cages in swampland, surrounded by alligators, as if the cruelty of family separation wasn't dehumanizing enough. These aren't detention centers; they're modern-day concentration camps built to disappear people from public consciousness.
As The Intercept notes, ICE is already operating "beyond capacity" and using tactics that include "flash bangs during restaurant sweeps" and "violently arresting gardeners on video." This additional funding will only amplify the violence.
The Indigenous Perspective: Esto Es Nuestra Tierra
As an Indigenous person living on stolen land that was carved up by an arbitrary line drawn by colonizers, this militarization hits different.
The Tohono O'odham Nation, whose territory spans both sides of the US-Mexico border, has seen their lands turned into a war zone. Traditional migration routes that our ancestors used for thousands of years are now patrolled by agents with military-level funding.
The border doesn't just separate countries—it separates families, communities, and ecosystems that have been connected since time immemorial. The wall disrupts javelina migration, blocks traditional gathering areas, and destroys archaeological sites. And now, with this massive budget increase, that destruction will accelerate.
Pero también, let's remember: we've survived 500+ years of colonization. We've survived the Mission system, we've survived Termination policies, and we'll survive this too. Our resistance is as old as the mountains, and our memoria runs deeper than any wall they can build.
The Real Cost: What We're NOT Funding
While ICE gets military-level funding, let's talk about what we're not funding:
Healthcare: The same bill cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid
Education: School districts continue to struggle with underfunding
Climate action: As our region faces extreme heat and drought, environmental programs face cuts
Mental health services: Communities traumatized by ICE raids get no additional support
Economic development: Rural border communities that could benefit from legitimate investment get surveillance instead
As the Economic Policy Institute's Daniel Costa warned, "It is hard for people to imagine what immigration enforcement is going to look like once all this money goes... we're turning into a police state and surveillance state. The orders of magnitude are going to be multiplied."
Resistance in the Face of La Chingadera
Pero here's the thing, carnales: every empire falls, and every wall eventually crumbles. This massive investment in cruelty isn't a sign of strength—it's a sign of desperation. They're spending military-level money because they know their power is threatened.
Recent protests in Los Angeles have already spread nationwide, and polls show that 54% of Americans believe ICE operations have gone "too far." The money they're spending on agents and detention centers could be funding community programs, job training, and pathways to citizenship. Instead, they're choosing fear.
¿Y Ahora Qué? What Comes Next
As immigrant rights advocates note, this funding level is designed to be "difficult to reverse in future administrations, given the scale of new infrastructure and contracts." They're trying to lock in this cruelty for decades.
But we are not powerless. Nosotros have tools:
Immediate Actions:
Document everything: Use your phones to record ICE operations (safely and legally)
Know your rights: Carry know-your-rights cards and share them widely
Support rapid response networks: Donate to local immigrant defense funds
Contact representatives: Demand accountability for how this money is spent
Long-term Resistance:
Vote in ALL elections: Local elections often have the biggest impact on daily life
Support sanctuary jurisdictions: Push your city/county to limit cooperation with ICE
Divest and reinvest: Pull money from banks funding private prisons, invest in community development
Build alternative economies: Support immigrant-owned businesses and mutual aid networks
La Esperanza Never Dies
Mira, I won't lie to you—this is scary. When a government spends more money on hunting immigrants than entire countries spend on their militaries, we're in dangerous territory. But here's what they don't understand: nuestra comunidad is stronger than their walls, deeper than their detention centers, and more enduring than their hate.
Every dollar they spend on cages is a dollar not spent on opportunity. Every agent they hire is a teacher they're not hiring. Every wall they build isolates them further from the valores that actually make communities strong: compassion, cooperation, and care for our neighbors.
The movement is growing. From the Occupy ICE protests to the rapid response networks sprouting up in every major city, people are saying "¡Ya basta!" The resistance has deep roots, and it's spreading.
Supporting Nuestra Lucha
This fight is far from over, and staying informed is crucial. That's why we need independent media that centers our voices and experiences. Please consider supporting Three Sonorans Substack to help us continue bringing you analysis that mainstream media won't touch.
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En Resistencia y Esperanza
They can build their walls and hire their armies, but they cannot wall off the truth: esta tierra belonged to Indigenous peoples long before borders existed, and it will belong to our descendants long after these walls crumble. Every sunrise over the Sonoran Desert reminds me that we are still here, still fighting, still dreaming of a world where no human being is illegal.
The mountains don't recognize borders. The rivers don't stop at walls. And neither will our love for nuestra gente.
¡La lucha sigue!
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As I get older (and older) I see more clearly how capitalism and colonialism are twins of some evil mother. Neither one can stop their onslaught, both must be biggest and best, and CRUELTY is a necessary part of taking, always taking when any resistance is met. The most disgusting way of living I can ever imagine. And now I live it in the Land of the Free…
What do you think will happen when they run out of "illegals" to point their new "top 15" internal military at? "Undesirables?" "Democrats?"