Senate lawmakers have narrowly approved a massive spending bill that — if approved by the U.S. House — would supercharge funding for immigration enforcement.
Vice President JD Vance broke a deadlocked Senate vote this week, allowing the Senate version of President Donald Trump’s so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill" to move forward and closer to being signed into law.
If passed, it would give $150 billion worth of funding to immigration and border enforcement agencies.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will get some $45 billion for family and adult detention alone — up from the roughly $8 billion annual budget the agency gets now. The new amount would give ICE more than 60% more funding that the entire Federal Bureau of Prisons budget, according to an analysis from the American Immigration Council.
Another $30 billion will go toward new ICE personnel and expanded enforcement, and $59 billion will go toward Customs and Border Protection for more border wall, Border Patrol agents and surveillance.
More than 56,000 people are detained by ICE nationwide now, well over the agency’s current 41,000 bed capacity. The bill would allow the agency to detain as many as 116,000 people at once.
Last month, ICE also moved to limit congressional oversight visits to detention centers, despite lawmakers’ legal authority to tour facilities unannounced.
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency tasked with processing immigration applications, currently recommends DACA recipients file their renewal applications between 120 and 150 days before the expiration date of their current status. -
Mexico’s foreign secretary says 14,000 Mexican nationals remain in immigration detention in the United States as Mexico pursues consular and legal action. -
Lawyers who spoke to KPBS said immigration judges are now ordering bond amounts that previously were only used for criminals on international wanted lists. The U.S. Department of Justice says the courts are following the law and that the claims are "baseless." -
Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Mike Wisniewski says this latest surge comes on the heels of a similar operation last month, which led to the arrest of dozens of undocumented immigrants. -
A kitchen manager at the center of the Zipps Sports Grill immigration raids has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for his role in hiring undocumented workers.
