The U.S. Senate has approved a budget reconciliation bill that allocates unprecedented funding for immigration enforcement, while simultaneously jeopardizing healthcare access for millions of Americans.
Washington, D.C., July 1, 2025 — On July 1, the U.S. Senate passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes an unprecedented allocation of funds for immigration detention and enforcement. This decision comes at a time when millions of Americans face the loss of their healthcare coverage.
The bill was passed with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, earmarking approximately $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement-related provisions. This funding represents a significant increase in the federal budget for immigration enforcement.
Among the key allocations in the bill are $45 billion designated for the construction of new immigration detention centers, including facilities for families. This funding marks a staggering 265 percent increase in the annual budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and is 62 percent larger than the entire federal prison system budget. The new funding could result in the daily detention of at least 116,000 non-citizens.
Additionally, the bill allocates $29.9 billion for ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations, effectively tripling the agency’s annual budget. This increase in funding for enforcement comes at a time when between 12 million and 17 million people are at risk of losing their healthcare coverage.
The legislation also caps the number of immigration judges at 800, despite the ongoing record backlogs in the immigration court system. Furthermore, it includes $46.6 billion for border wall construction, which is more than three times the amount spent by the Trump administration during its first term. Critics argue that the wall has failed to contribute meaningfully to border management strategies.
Another notable provision is a new $10 billion fund intended to reimburse the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for costs associated with “safeguarding” U.S. borders against illegal entry. This funding constitutes nearly 50 percent of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) budget for fiscal year 2024. However, unlike standard budget allocations, this fund lacks strict guidelines, potentially allowing CBP to utilize the funds with minimal oversight.
Overall, this legislation marks the largest investment in detention and deportation in U.S. history. Critics contend that this policy choice does not address the systemic failures of the immigration system and instead exacerbates issues, causing harm and chaos while tearing families apart.
“This bill will deprive 12 to 17 million Americans of basic healthcare while investing unprecedented levels of funding in the president’s increasingly unpopular mass deportation agenda,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council. “At a time when polls show more Americans rejecting mass detention and deportation, this bill ignores what Americans want and doubles down on punitive policies that do nothing to address the real problems in our immigration system, including court backlogs, a lack of legal pathways to citizenship, and a broken U.S. asylum system.”
The enforcement-heavy provisions of the bill come at the expense of necessary investments in asylum processing, legal representation, community-based alternatives to detention, and support for local governments and nonprofits that assist new arrivals.
“Throwing billions at detention centers and enforcement agents is short-sighted. Instead, we should be investing in a system aimed at welcoming immigrants who contribute billions to our economy,” stated Adriel Orozco, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council. “We don’t need more jail beds and indiscriminate raids. We need balanced solutions that strengthen due process and keep families together.”
The bill will now return to the House of Representatives, where members are expected to vote on final passage later this week. Experts from the American Immigration Council are available to provide further insights into the specifics of the bill, including its implications for immigration courts, border funding, unaccompanied children, and the increase in ICE agents.
Source: Original article