Although President-elect Donald Trump had made mass deportations the cornerstone of his incoming administration, he might have to reign in on his plans since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director P.J. Lechleitner told the NBC News that they are “chronically underresourced” and need more funding.
ICE is currently reeling under a $230 million budget shortfall, even before Trump imposes the extra pressure of historic deportations on them, according to officials.
“We are running hot,” said the officials and revealed that the agency has been underfunded historically and under the duress of the Joe Biden administration to remove migrants after the change in asylum policy, more so.
The incoming Trump administration’s ambitious plans of mass deportations will cost more than $88 billion and Trump said that there is “no price tag” on his mass deportation plans, and has insisted on it being done.
He has also suggested utilising the country’s military to carry out the operation as much as the law allows.
With nearly 8 million immigrants in ICE’s tab, for every 7,000 cases, there is one ICE officer. Lechleitner said that this ratio is “not good” and other officials of ICE say that it is impossible to keep a tab on all migrants inside the country.
The ICE is facing a funding shortfall, despite a continuing resolution spending bill introduced in Congress. The agency’s operations, including detaining and deporting migrants, are exceeding its $8.7 billion annual budget. This shortfall may force ICE to release migrants due to insufficient funding for detention beds, following 2023’s record-high border crossings.
The continuing resolution is expected to pass, extending current funding levels until March 14. However, ICE’s funding requests have been higher, with a bipartisan border bill proposing $9.5 billion and the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget requesting $9.3 billion. These requests have not been approved by Congress, despite Republican calls for increased immigration enforcement.
