Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is already more than $1 billion over budget this year as the agency carries out the administration’s mass deportation agenda. President Donald Trump’s ICE chief wants to create a deportation system like “Amazon Prime for human beings” in a brutal and dehumanizing drive to deport as many people as quickly as possible, no matter the cost.
Now, ICE is asking for even more public funding.
This isn't just a financial issue. It reflects a larger problem with how national priorities are being shaped, and who is being harmed in the process.
The Real Cost of a Mass Deportation Agenda
ICE is using its bloated budget to terrorize our communities in Texas and across the nation — disappearing people to a foreign prison without due process, arbitrarily punishing students for their free speech, deporting U.S. citizens alongside their families, and detaining more people than the agency has the capacity to manage.
What we’re witnessing is not simply a funding gap. It is the result of a system that invests in cruel punishment and separation instead of community support and care.
As ICE overspends on detention and enforcement, Texans are being harmed in ways that affect every part of daily life:
Families are being torn apart. Increased detentions mean more children separated from their parents, more loved ones missing from the dinner table, and more households left in fear. In one case, an Austin mother was lured to an immigration appointment after being told she was eligible for asylum. After complying, she and her two sons were deported. In another, a U.S. citizen child with cancer was deported alongside her parents when they were on their way to her cancer treatment.
Due process is disappearing. Many people swept up in enforcement efforts are denied access to a fair hearing or meaningful legal support. Under the Trump administration, ICE processed deportations directly from Texas to El Salvador’s CECOT prison without court review. In March 2025, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported through a Texas field office to El Salvador, despite a federal court order that was supposed to block his removal. In one recent case, Pedro Luis Salazar-Cuervo, a Venezuelan father of three, was deported from Texas to CECOT after the Department of Public Safety accused him of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang simply because they found a photo of him standing next to a man with tattoos. Without due process, anyone could be detained and deported at any time for any reason, and there’s nothing they could do about it.
Community trust is being eroded. When local law enforcement works with federal immigration agencies, people are less likely to report harm, seek help, or access services — especially in immigrant communities. A woman from El Salvador, who has lived in Houston for seven years, called the cops to report domestic violence, and the Houston Police Department called immigration authorities on her instead.
Critical services are being cut. While ICE overspends, Texans continue to face federal cuts in public education, student loan programs, health care access, and housing assistance. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has just vetoed funding for the federal summer lunch program for low-income children, a program that many families rely on to keep them fed while school is on break.
Our economy and shared wellbeing are suffering. Immigrants are essential to the social and economic fabric of our state. In Texas, immigrants account for nearly 23% of the workforce and contribute more than $192 billion in personal income each year, representing a significant share of the state’s consuming spending power. More than 5.4 million immigrant Texans paid roughly $58 billion in state and local taxes in 2023, helping fund schools, roads, hospitals, and other critical services. Business leaders are already warning that enforcement crackdowns are causing labor shortages, notably in restaurants where 22% of workers are immigrants. Targeting immigrants harms entire communities.
Our Communities Are Pushing Back
In light of this egregious display of cruelty, communities across the state and across the nation have been working together to support our neighbors and loved ones.
Following mass protests in Los Angeles, cities like San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas showed up en masse to condemn these inhumane deportations and demonstrate solidarity with immigrant communities. In more than 60 cities across Texas, people organized, resisted, and reclaimed power by participating in the “No Kings” protest — one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history.
We’re not backing down.
At the ACLU of Texas, we are committed to holding systems accountable and pushing for a vision of Texas that works for all of us. That includes defending due process, advocating for smarter funding choices, and protecting the constitutional rights of every person in Texas — so we all can live with dignity, no exceptions.
Texas communities don’t need more detention centers or expanded immigration enforcement. We need policies that uphold rights, protect families, and invest in the public good.
