Unconscionable: Congress gives ICE billions more while a record number of people are dying in detention
Washington, DC – In response to the House passing a reconciliation bill that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) an additional $70 billion, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network issued the following statement:
“The billions in additional funding that Congress just handed to DHS to expand the administration’s detention and deportation agenda is unconscionable. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already the largest enforcement agency in the country, operating with never-before-seen funding to maintain and expand the largest immigration detention system in the world. More than half of this funding will go to ICE. It is more than 3 times ICE’s annual budget all in one shot, and yet, Congress is still negotiating an annual budget for Fiscal Year 2027 to layer on top of that.
“All of this in addition to the unprecedented and obscene infusion of more than $170 billion for detention and deportation that Congress granted through last year’s reconciliation package. With this unprecedented funding, the Trump administration is carrying out a multi-layered detention expansion plan that includes proliferating ICE operations into other government agencies, using military bases as deportation hubs, deepening ties with private prison companies and growing ICE partnerships with local sheriffs, county jails and even state governments. This mind-blowing investment into the immigration detention system, driven by Trump’s mass deportation campaign, comes at the expense of all Americans, as people lose health care, kids go hungry, and families struggle to pay rent and worry over emergency preparedness amidst historic climate catastrophes.
“Trump is executing his cruel mass deportation agenda at the expense of all Americans while valued and vital community members and family members are dying in detention at a record scale. This year has been the deadliest year in ICE custody in decades. 19 people have died in the first 22 full weeks of this year, and 50 people total under the current Trump administration. The death toll in ICE custody is heartbreaking and enraging. We must collectively call for an end to the ICE age to stop the loss of life in ICE custody, permanently shut down detentions, and to keep people and communities safe.”
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Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.