A massive boost to Trump deportation funding is now within reach, as Congress prepares to hand the Department of Homeland Security a nearly $70 billion infusion with virtually no strings attached. The money is poised to power President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda for the rest of his term — and it comes with far fewer guardrails than typical government spending.

The package has already cleared the Republican-held Senate in a middle-of-the-night vote and now heads to the House, setting the stage for one of the most consequential immigration funding decisions in years.

A Bill With Few Limits

What makes this legislation remarkable is not just its size but its simplicity. The funding package is a slim, roughly twelve-page bill stripped of the usual directives and oversight provisions that normally accompany federal spending.

The money is sweeping in scope:

• Roughly $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations
• Nearly $20 billion for the Border Patrol
• Additional funds for other related operations

Crucially, the bill prepays the department’s operations all the way into 2029, effectively locking in financing for years. And this comes on top of some $170 billion that Congress already approved for the department last summer as part of Trump’s major tax breaks bill.

Sharp Reactions on Both Sides

The package has provoked fierce responses across the political spectrum. The Democratic leader branded it a “rotten bill,” while pro-immigrant advocates derided it as an “ATM for ICE.”

For those aligned with Trump’s promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, however, the bill all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of cash. Trump border czar Tom Homan made the administration’s intentions clear, telling CBS News that the government would continue arresting, detaining, and deporting people. He also hinted that summer enforcement sweeps were coming next to New York City.

The Taxpayer’s Dilemma

Critics argue the spending priorities are deeply misplaced. Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of the immigrant advocacy organization America’s Voice, voiced frustration over how the funds will be used.

She noted that the administration’s options for the money are essentially limitless. For her, it’s painful to accept as a taxpaying citizen that public dollars are flowing into what she called a massive mass deportation machine — even as ordinary Americans struggle with health care costs, food access, and high gas prices.

A Shift in Strategy

The administration has worked to reshape the public debate around its immigration operations. Following violent enforcement scenes earlier this year and the shooting deaths of Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, new leadership was installed at Homeland Security.

Rather than relying on dramatic street sweeps, the administration is increasingly operating behind the scenes. Its quieter tactics aim to strip immigrant groups of their ability to remain in the country by:

• Eliminating Temporary Protected Status
• Making green cards harder to secure
• Delaying renewals for so-called Dreamers, the young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, leaving them exposed to potential deportation

Even so, protests continue on American streets, including demonstrations over detention conditions at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey.

Building Out the Machine

At the same time, Homeland Security is expanding its operational capacity on multiple fronts. The department continues to hire more ICE agents — with an employment fair planned next month in Florida — while constructing additional detention facilities and forging partnerships with countries worldwide to accept deportees.

In a statement, the department said Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin are laser-focused on fully funding the workers of ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. It framed the congressional package as a safeguard ensuring critical national security operations continue, taking a swipe at what it called Democratic attempts to hold its employees hostage.

When Oversight Disappears

The manner in which this funding moved through Congress marks a significant departure from tradition. Normally, a funding package runs hundreds of pages or more, packed with specific instructions about how money can be spent and on what timeline. Congress, holding the constitutional power of the purse, typically uses that authority to check the administration.

This time, the process unfolded differently. After Democrats refused to fund Homeland Security earlier this year following the violence in Minnesota, Republicans retaliated by pushing the package through the congressional budget resolution process on their own, bypassing the traditional appropriations channels.

It’s the same maneuver both parties have used before, most recently for Trump’s 2025 tax cuts bill. But the consequence, according to Bobby Kogan, a former Senate Budget Committee staffer now at the Center for American Progress, is that important oversight simply doesn’t happen.

Senate Democrats tried overnight to reassert their authority, offering amendments to claw back some say in the process. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, for instance, sought to protect Dreamers from deportation amid their delayed DACA renewals. Every one of those efforts failed.

Pressure From the Right

Even with this enormous sum, the administration faces pressure from hardliners who say it isn’t doing enough. Trump is under intense pressure to deliver on his promise of roughly 1 million deportations a year, after his first-year numbers fell short.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project and a leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition, dismissed the idea that the funding represents a windfall. In his view, the money amounts to little more than “life-support.” He insisted his group isn’t asking the administration to keep going, but rather to “start.”

Howell argued the administration has little chance of hitting Trump’s deportation targets unless it abandons its current priority of pursuing what it calls the “worst of the worst.” His coalition has proposed a framework calling for far more comprehensive sweeps, particularly targeting immigrants in the workplace.

He also wants the administration to make daily life harder for immigrants by restricting their access to:

• The banking system
• Social services
• Driver’s licenses

Republicans in Congress have introduced bills addressing some of these proposals.

Ramping Up the Rhetoric

Alongside the policy push, the administration has sharpened its messaging. It recently launched a new website that characterizes immigrants as “aliens,” leaning into outer-space themes while highlighting the ways the White House is working to prevent people from staying in the country.

A Pivotal Political Moment

The timing carries real weight. With midterm elections approaching, Trump and his party face restless voters. According to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April, about one in three U.S. adults know someone affected by Trump’s immigration operations. And as America marks its 250th anniversary, most say the country is no longer a great place for immigrants.

As the bill moves to the House, the stakes could hardly be clearer. A nearly $70 billion commitment with minimal oversight stands to entrench the deportation apparatus for years to come — reshaping not just immigration policy, but the broader debate over how taxpayer money is spent and who gets to hold the government accountable.