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.
 

According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency report released on Thursday, more than 271,000 immigrants were deported from the US over the last fiscal year even as President Joe Biden pledged to pause deportations in 2021.

The change in decision comes in the wake of a surge in border crossings.

The number of immigrants released last year is the largest number deported in nearly a decade, even surpassing the numbers during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office.

The flow of deportations made by the Biden administration seems to be happening because of a streamlined process, as the report by ICE suggests, weeks before Trump assumes office.

Majority of the deportations in the year 2024 involved illegal migrants who were apprehended by border officials compared to those arrested in the country’s interior. About 82 per cent of immigrants deported were arrested by border officials.

Karoline Leavitt, who would serve as the national press secretary for the incoming administration said that Biden’s deportation numbers are feeble compared to the numbers of illegal immigration during his presidency. “On day one, President Trump will fix the immigration and national security nightmare that Joe Biden created by launching the largest mass deportation operation of illegal criminals in United States history,” she said.

According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the number of migrant encounters along the US-Mexico border have dropped to their lowest level since 2020.

Even though Trump has made mass deportations the cornerstone of his incoming administration, the Immigration machinery seems to be “running hot” on budget, with a $230 million shortfall.

And a shortfall could mean Trump might have to delay his “mass deportation” plans.