Does ICE have a larger budget than the marines or the FBI?

1. What the headline numbers actually are

Congress and the White House set two different kinds of figures that reporters have mixed together: a multi‑year OBBB allocation that funnels roughly $75–$170 billion to immigration and enforcement programs over four years (sources frame this differently), and proposed single‑year base budgets for FY2026; reporting cites ICE receiving roughly $75 billion across four years plus a proposed FY2026 base near $11–$11.3 billion, producing estimated annual envelopes in the high‑teens to high‑twenties of billions depending on spending pace — figures various outlets round to $27–$30 billion for ICE’s effective annual resources after OBBB additions ^{[3] [1] [4] [5]}.

2. Comparing ICE to the FBI: likely larger now, by multiple measures

Multiple fact‑checks and analyses conclude that ICE’s expansion could make it equal to or larger than the FBI on key metrics: ICE’s augmented budgets and hiring plans (including tens of thousands of new positions in some estimates) put its personnel and spending above the FBI’s current levels, and outlets report the FBI’s budget near $10–$10.6 billion with proposed modest cuts — a gap ICE’s new funding comfortably closes under most annualized calculations ^{[6] [2] [7]}. PolitiFact cautions that the outcome depends on hiring and accounting choices, but the consensus among fact‑checks is that ICE can plausibly outstrip the FBI both in dollars and in arrest‑authorized officers after the OBBB provisions ^[2].

3. Comparing ICE to the Marine Corps: not definitive on a strict yearly basis

The Marine Corps’ documented FY2025 spending was roughly $52.67 billion and proposed FY2026 totals cited by analysts are in the $54–$57 billion range, if Congress approves administration requests ^[3]. Some reporters and advocates say OBBB’s $75 billion plus added base funding could make ICE’s resources rival or exceed the Marines — but Snopes and other monitors flag a key data gap: ICE’s documents do not specify how much of the multi‑year OBBB pot will be treated as annual ICE budget authority for FY2026, so a strict apples‑to‑apples annual comparison with the Marines cannot be fully substantiated with available public documents ^{[3] [8]}.

4. Why these budget comparisons are messy and often misleading

Federal budgeting uses base appropriations, one‑time supplemental transfers, earmarks, and agency fees; the OBBB mixes large multiyear authorizations with base requests and fee changes that could be spent unevenly across years, so summing headline totals can produce misleading annual figures ^{[3] [8]}. Advocacy groups and journalistic outlets emphasize different metrics — total four‑year allocations, annualized averages, headcount, detention facility spending — producing divergent headlines that reflect editorial aims as much as accounting choices ^{[1] [9]}.

5. Political framing, agendas and why it matters

Proponents frame OBBB as restoring law enforcement capacity and border control; critics call it a “deportation‑industrial complex” and stress diversion of funds from social programs and criminal justice priorities ^{[1] [10]}. Media stories emphasizing ICE “outspending” the Marines or “becoming larger than the FBI” often serve activist narratives or political messaging; independent fact‑checks (Snopes, PolitiFact, Brennan Center commentary) repeatedly urge caution and precise metric definitions before accepting dramatic comparisons ^{[3] [8] [2]}.

6. Bottom line: what can be said with confidence

It is accurate to say ICE’s budget and staffing were dramatically increased by the OBBB and that under many reasonable annualized calculations ICE now exceeds the FBI in dollars and possibly personnel; it is not yet provable from public documents that ICE’s single‑year, fully recognized FY2026 budget definitively exceeds the U.S. Marine Corps’ authorized FY2026 budget because the timing and classification of OBBB funds remain unclear ^{[1] [2] [3]}.