Although President-elect Donald Trump has made mass deportations a cornerstone of his incoming administration, he may have to reignite his plans as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director PJ Lechleitner told NBC News. They are “chronically under-resourced” and they need it. More funding.
ICE is currently struggling with a $230 million budget shortfall, according to officials, even before Trump placed additional pressure on them with historic deportations.
“We are in trouble,” officials said, revealing that the agency is historically underfunded and is under pressure from the Joe Biden administration to remove migrants following a change in asylum policy.
The incoming Trump administration’s ambitious mass deportation plans will cost more than $88 billion and Trump said there is “no price tag” on his mass deportation plans and has insisted on getting it done.
He has also suggested using the country’s army to carry out the operation as much as the law allows.
With about 8 million immigrants in ICE’s tabs, there is one ICE officer for every 7,000 cases. Lechleitner said that ratio is “not good” and other ICE officials say it is impossible to keep track of all immigrants inside the country.
Despite continued resolution spending bills being introduced in Congress, ICE continues to face funding shortfalls. The agency’s operations, including detaining and deporting migrants, are exceeding its $8.7 billion annual budget. After the cap hits a record-high in 2023, the shortage could force ICE to release migrants due to insufficient funding for detention beds.
A continuing resolution extending the current funding level through March 14 is expected to pass. However, ICE’s funding requests have been higher, with the bipartisan border bill proposing $9.5 billion and the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget requesting $9.3 billion. Despite Republican calls for increased immigration enforcement, these requests have not been approved by Congress.
