ICE, borders and DHS: what’s in Trump’s $70bn immigration crackdown bill?

Bill signed into law by the president bankrolls his mass deportation campaign through the end of his second term Donald Trump signed a new law this week that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) roughly $70bn in additional funding, bankrolling his mass deportation campaign through the end of his second term in what critics say amounts to a huge blow for accountability. What will this increase in the power of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mean for the US president’s sweeping anti-immigration agenda? About $26bn is going to CBP, $38bn to ICE and $5bn more generally to DHS, with the funding available for use through 30 September 2029, about eight months after Trump is due to leave office. And although the law does include some appropriations for the agencies’ other responsibilities – such as combating drug trafficking and child sexual exploitation – its focus is chiefly funding immigration enforcement. At US borders and entry points, the legislation includes more than $13bn for CBP’s agents, support staff and operations involving immigration enforcement. Then, for policing inside the country, ICE is receiving m