By Vanguard Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new Brennan Center report warns that President Trump’s latest budget bill represents a sweeping expansion of immigration detention and enforcement infrastructure, enshrining key elements of his administration’s immigration agenda while actively dismantling mechanisms of oversight.
The legislation allocates an unprecedented $45 billion to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build new detention centers, alongside $14 billion for deportation operations and $3.5 billion in reimbursements to state and local governments for immigration-related enforcement costs. As the Brennan Center notes, “The bill funds an expansion to approximately double immigrant detention capacity, from about 56,000 detention beds to potentially more than 100,000.”
That expansion will largely benefit private prison corporations, who already hold about 90 percent of people in ICE custody. CoreCivic and GEO Group—both major donors to Trump-aligned candidates—are poised to profit heavily. CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger recently told investors, “Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right now.”
The budget enables the Trump administration to bypass competitive bidding processes in order to ramp up detention capacity under the justification of “compelling urgency.” New and reactivated facilities include the 2,400-bed Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, a possible 1,033-bed facility in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.
The Brennan Center emphasizes that “this new money comes as the administration is thwarting attempts at congressional oversight of detention conditions—and alongside new levels of cruelty directed at undocumented immigrants.”
Indeed, the budget includes extreme increases in immigration-related fees. Asylum seekers would face a $100 application fee, and children traveling alone would be charged $250 for relief. The cost to appeal an immigration judge’s decision jumps from $110 to $900. As the report states, “These fees essentially create a two-tiered system where only those who can afford these application fees can participate in the immigration process in the U.S. or obtain due process.”
Perhaps the most jarring element of the budget is the construction of a makeshift 5,000-person detention facility in the Florida Everglades, derisively dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and White House officials. Surrounded by dangerous wildlife, the facility is being promoted as a low-cost security option. But serious concerns remain about access to legal counsel, medical care, family contact, and basic oversight.
Trump visited the Everglades facility this week to spotlight the expansion. Meanwhile, at least 10 people have died in ICE custody so far this year—nearly triple the annual average over the past four years — amid growing reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions.
Making matters worse, the Department of Homeland Security has increasingly blocked oversight. The report notes that ICE has denied multiple members of Congress access to detention facilities and field offices, despite a federal law guaranteeing them access without notice. In June, ICE unilaterally adopted a new policy requiring 72 hours’ notice and claimed that field offices don’t fall under the oversight statute—even as they are used to detaining people for days.
The Brennan Center writes: “Perhaps most troubling is the administration’s outright defiance of congressional oversight.” The administration has also shuttered both the Office of the Immigration Ombudsman and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties—two of the few remaining entities with authority to monitor detention conditions.
Trump has justified this sprawling enforcement regime by falsely linking undocumented immigrants to violent crime, but as the Brennan Center underscores, “Research has found that immigrants actually commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans. In fact, 72 percent of people in ICE detention have no criminal record.” Many who do have records were charged with minor infractions like traffic violations.
The budget bill, now signed into law, marks a seismic shift in federal immigration policy. The Brennan Center concludes that the spending levels and rollback of oversight “are without precedent” and “will likely be difficult to dismantle under future presidents.”
As the immigration detention system balloons, critics warn that the U.S. is entrenching a punitive apparatus that criminalizes migration, enriches private contractors, and erodes constitutional protections—all while making it harder for future administrations to reverse course.
