How did congressional appropriations for ICE change between FY2023 and FY2025, and what legislative actions caused the largest shifts?
Executive summary
Congressional appropriations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rose sharply from FY2023 to FY2025, driven primarily by emergency and omnibus actions in 2025 that injected billions for detention, removal, and border operations; however, precise year-to-year line-item totals remain contested in public reporting and some enacted figures were still “not yet available” in secondary analyses [1] [2]. The largest legislative drivers were a March 2025 supplemental/continuing funding action that added roughly $10 billion to ICE-related programs and a subsequent July 2025 multi-year package that advocates and analysts describe as providing roughly $75 billion over four years for enforcement—figures that, when combined in some reporting, produce headline totals near $28.7 billion for ICE in 2025 [1] [3].
1. Fiscal trajectory: from FY2023 baseline to emergency-era spikes
ICE’s baseline appropriations before 2025 were substantially lower than the 2025 funding environment that included both normal appropriations and large supplemental or contingency allocations; governmental budget reports and watchdog analyses document routine adjustments and reprogramming across years, and GAO reported that DHS moved $1.8 billion within DHS accounts to assist ICE from FY2014–FY2023, underscoring a history of off‑budget shifts even before 2025’s surge [4]. Public-interest groups and legal advocacy organizations characterize FY2025 as an inflection point: some reports describe FY2025 detention and deportation funding as the largest in history, citing figures that far exceed FY2024 and earlier years, while also noting that final enacted totals for FY2025 were not uniformly available at the time of their publication [5] [2].
2. The March 2025 infusion: a $10 billion addition via a continuing resolution
One of the clearest legislative actions altering ICE’s FY2025 resources was a continuing resolution and short-term spending package enacted in March 2025 that, according to multiple accounts, added roughly $10 billion for ICE‑related activities as part of border and immigration enforcement priorities in the CR [1] [6]. That March measure also carried over policy provisions—such as authorities around certain visa caps and contingency language—that affect DHS operations and, by extension, how ICE can use funds under the CR framework [6] [7].
3. The July 2025 multi‑year funding package and the “$75 billion” framing
A July 2025 funding package described by advocacy groups and legal analysts allocated what they report as $75 billion over four years targeted to deportation and border enforcement—roughly $18.7 billion per year in that characterization—which some outlets added to the March $10 billion to arrive at a combined figure often cited for ICE resources in 2025 (producing the widely circulated $28.7 billion number) [1]. That framing comes from policy analysts and advocacy organizations (Brennan Center, American Immigration Council), which emphasize the scale and programmatic focus of the package and warn about the policy consequences of concentrating resources on detention and removals [1] [5].
4. What legislative mechanics produced the largest shifts
The two most consequential legislative mechanics were (a) emergency/supplemental-style funding and continuing resolutions that bypassed the regular appropriations timetable and allowed large front-loaded resources for DHS components, and (b) inclusion of multi-year enforcement funding within a broader reconciliation or omnibus framework that locked in multi-year spending figures and contingencies tied to border metrics—both approaches amplified ICE’s resource base beyond standard annual appropriations [3] [7]. Congressional riders, general provisions, and rescission items in the DHS appropriations process also changed the “score” of bills and the availability of funds, and CRS reporting documents several procedural provisions (for example, rescissions and contingency funds) that materially affected FY2025 DHS resource flows [7] [8].
5. Competing narratives, agendas, and limits of the public record
Advocacy groups on both sides frame the shifts to support opposing narratives: immigrant‑rights groups call the 2025 funding the largest-ever investment in detention and deportation and warn of humanitarian harm, while enforcement and border‑security advocates portray the funding as essential to operational readiness and border control [5] [6]. Independent oversight notes—such as GAO’s work on reprogramming and ICE’s reliance on intra‑DHS transfers—show that published appropriations totals can understate the full fiscal picture because agencies frequently move funds internally [4]. Some contemporaneous analyses also caution that revised enacted FY2025 totals were still being compiled when they published, meaning precise comparable FY2023-to-FY2025 line‑item figures are not consistently available across sources [2].