- Press Release
Congress Approves Even More Funding for Detention, Deportation
WASHINGTON, DC, March 14, 2025 – Today, Congress passed a full-year (CR) to fund the federal government until September 30, 2025. The CR is not a simple continuation of last year’s funding. Instead, it allocates substantial increases in funds to support the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts.
Specifically, it provides at least $430 million more to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration detention beds, transportation, and deportation costs, and an additional $136 million to the Department of Justice to support anticipated increases in detention of immigrants.
Putting more money into detaining and deporting people will not fix one of the core problems in our immigration system: massive backlogs that leave vulnerable people in limbo, requiring them to have to wait years to have a decision in their case, while forming deep roots in our communities. Because of the number of cases and lack of action to clear these backlogs (namely, Congressional failure to create more legal pathways to residency), this has plunged immigrants into uncertainty, strained the justice system, and undermined due process.
Yet, Congress is spending tax dollars on ICE and family separation. From fiscal year 2003 to 2024, the disparity in funding is evident: for every $45 directed towards Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and ICE, only $1 was allocated to the immigration court system, creating a severe imbalance that undermines the integrity of our immigration system.
The following statement is from Jeremy Robbins, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council:
“Our immigration system is in need of critical investments to address the millions of cases in the years-long backlog to properly review legal claims by those seeking status in this country. Rather than address these problems, this continuing resolution exacerbates them by investing even more funding for immigration enforcement and detention instead of our immigration benefits and courts system — all the while cutting other core programs that keep us safe, healthy, and flourishing like medical research, rural internet broadband access, and public school programs — to invest unprecedented sums instead in separating families and detaining and deporting immigrants, including many who have been in this country for decades at no danger to the public. "
“The imbalance highlights a legislative choice that prioritizes punitive immigration measures over the provision of essential services and the efficient functioning of the immigration system.
"These policies do nothing to address the complex challenges of immigration or advance meaningful solutions for our country. Rather, they perpetuate a cycle of fear and instability that undermines our economy. Instead, Congressional leaders should invest in programs that strengthen our communities and support our families.”
###
The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration and by working toward a more fair and just immigration system that opens its doors to those in need of protection and unleashes the energy and skills that immigrants bring. The Council brings together problem solvers and employs four coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, research, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Economy merged to combine a broad suite of advocacy tools to better expand and protect immigrants' rights, more fully ensure their ability to succeed economically, and help make the communities they settle in more welcoming. Follow the latest Council news and information on ImmigrationImpact.com and X @immcouncil.