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What was ICE's total enacted budget for FY2025 and how does it compare to FY2024?
Executive summary
Available sources give differing figures and focuses: Congressional Research Service materials say the Administration’s FY2025 gross annual appropriations request for ICE was $9.31 billion, which CRS states was $246 million (‑2.6%) below the FY2024 enacted level [1]. Other reporting and advocacy sources describe much larger enacted totals later in 2025—claims that ICE’s annual resources rose to roughly $28–29.9 billion after subsequent congressional action [2] [3]—reflecting reconciliation or supplemental packages beyond the original FY2025 request [1].
1. The baseline: what CRS reports about the FY2025 request
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the FY2025 DHS budget shows the Administration requested $9.31 billion in gross annual appropriations for ICE; CRS explicitly frames that request as $246 million (‑2.6%) below the FY2024 enacted level, while noting the request was $979 million (+11.8%) above the FY2024 request [1]. CRS also warns that the FY2025 request included contingency and emergency-designated supplemental requests (not included in the comparative tables) that could change component totals if enacted [1].
2. Enacted vs. requested: why numbers diverge in reporting
CRS and DHS materials distinguish between the Administration’s request and what Congress enacts; CRS emphasizes that the FY2025 request included a potential $4.7 billion Southwest Border Contingency Fund that would be distributed among CBP, ICE, and FEMA and that contingency or supplemental funds were not counted in the basic comparatives [1] [4]. This is important because later congressional measures or reconciliation packages—outside the Administration request—are reported by other organizations as sharply increasing ICE’s actual FY2025 resources [2] [3].
3. Large post‑request increases reported by advocacy and policy groups
After the initial request and appropriations cycle, several advocacy and policy groups report that Congress provided substantially more funding to ICE through reconciliation or other legislative measures. The Brennan Center cites a legislative package that, according to their analysis, gives ICE roughly $28.7 billion “at its disposal this year,” describing a combination of a four‑year $75 billion allocation and an earlier $10 billion appropriation for FY2025 [2]. The American Immigration Council describes Senate reconciliation action as delivering about $29.9 billion toward ICE enforcement and deportation operations, calling that a roughly three‑fold increase in ICE’s annual budget [3]. These figures reflect enacted or proposed congressional packages beyond the Administration’s $9.31 billion request [1] [2] [3].
4. Official budget documents and continuing resolutions complicate comparisons
DHS and budget documents stress complexities such as continuing resolutions and emergency or contingency designations. CRS notes that if emergency‑designated funds are set aside, discretionary totals change and components like ICE would show reductions relative to the full request; separate reporting notes that a full‑year continuing resolution set FY2025 funding largely on FY2024 levels [1] [5]. DHS’s own budget materials and the President’s Budget narrative are listed among source documents, indicating that line items and designations (emergency, contingent, mandatory) affect how an “enacted” total should be read [6] [7].
5. Competing narratives and hidden agendas to watch
Advocacy organizations and think tanks cited here frame the same changes very differently: advocacy groups critical of heavy enforcement emphasize the large enacted totals as evidence of a “deportation‑industrial complex” and highlight detention capacity and daily detainee projections tied to the funding [2] [3]. CRS and official budget documents present technical comparisons between requested and enacted levels and repeatedly note supplemental/emergency designations; their framing is procedural and focused on budget mechanics [1] [5]. Each source’s institutional perspective matters when interpreting why figures diverge—CRS is explanatory, advocacy groups are evaluative and policy‑critical [1] [2].
6. What we can say with confidence and what's not in the sources
Confidently supported: the Administration’s FY2025 ICE request was $9.31 billion and CRS states that amount was $246 million below FY2024 enacted [1]. Also supported: subsequent legislative actions reported by the Brennan Center and the American Immigration Council claim much larger enacted or available resources for ICE in 2025—around $28–29.9 billion—reflecting reconciliation or supplemental allocations beyond the original request [2] [3]. Not found in current reporting: an authoritative federal table in these provided sources that reconciles the $9.31 billion request with a single definitive “FY2025 total enacted” figure that incorporates every supplemental or reconciliation component; available sources do not mention a consolidated official line showing that reconciliation total in an OMB/DHS one‑page summary (not found in current reporting).
If you want, I can pull the specific CRS tables and the Brennan Center/American Immigration Council pages side‑by‑side and list line items they cite so you can see exactly which appropriations and contingency/supplemental buckets account for the large divergence.