How has ICE actually spent the $75 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill through 2025–2026?
Executive summary
The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) authorized roughly $75 billion in additional funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be available through Sept. 30, 2029, but reporting shows that through fiscal years 2025–2026 most of that money remained an available multi‑year appropriation rather than a fully spent, audited outlay; routine annual appropriations for ICE stayed near $10 billion even as analysts warned the $75 billion would be used for detention, enforcement expansion, and contract operations [1] [2] [3]. Major investigative, watchdog and policy outlets describe intended allocations — not line‑by‑line completed spending — with particular emphasis on detention capacity, enforcement operations, and construction/contracting, while noting legal and oversight debates about how and when funds may be obligated [4] [5] [6].
1. What the $75 billion legally is — a multi‑year pot, not a single fiscal‑year check
Congress wrote the $75 billion into law as supplemental, multi‑year funding that agencies can obligate through September 2029, meaning for scorekeeping purposes it counts as available beginning in 2025 but need not be wholly spent that year; multiple explainers and fact checks emphasize that the funding is an available pool rather than an immediate $75 billion cash outflow in 2025 or 2026 [7] [8] [1].
2. How reporters and analysts say ICE plans to use the money — detention and enforcement first
Policy analyses from the Brennan Center, American Immigration Council and investigative outlets conclude that the largest single slice is intended for detention and enforcement: roughly $45 billion over four years earmarked for detention expansion (including contracting, construction and operation of beds), plus billions more directed to arrests, removals and operational expansion that would together enable dramatic increases in bed capacity and deportation activity if fully executed [4] [5] [7].
3. What actually moved through 2025–2026 — obligations versus headline allocations
News coverage of appropriations in early 2026 shows Congress kept ICE’s routine, annual appropriations roughly flat at about $10 billion for the year even as the OBBBA left the $75 billion available for future obligation; reporting from NBC, Marketplace and Time underscores that the ordinary DHS appropriations cycle funded current operations while the OBBBA funds remain a supplemental pool the department can draw on over multiple fiscal years [3] [2] [9]. Public reporting does not provide a comprehensive, audited ledger of line‑item outlays through 2026, and sources repeatedly distinguish between what was authorized and what was actually obligated or spent [10] [8].
4. Stakes, forecasts and competing narratives — why the difference matters
Advocates, watchdogs and critics warn that if ICE obligates the OBBBA funds as anticipated, the agency could double detention capacity, swell staff by as much as 50%, and multiply removals — scenarios framed as creating a “deportation‑industrial complex” by critics [4] [8]. Supporters and some officials frame the funding as restoring federal enforcement capacity; media analysis notes there are few statutory restraints in the reconciliation text and diverse estimates about how quickly and extensively DHS can obligate the money, creating a powerfully contested policy narrative [11] [7].
5. What reporting cannot yet confirm — the bottom line on actual spending through 2026
Available sources document the law’s authorization, stated agency plans, and analytic projections, but they do not provide an exhaustive accounting that shows that ICE spent the full $75 billion by the end of fiscal 2026; fact‑checks and policy briefs emphasize that the sum is to be used through 2029 and that much of the figure therefore represents potential, not already completed, expenditures [1] [10]. Independent auditors’ or Treasury‑level breakdowns showing precisely how much of the $75 billion was obligated and disbursed through Sept. 30, 2026 are not in the supplied reporting, so definitive claims about full expenditure cannot be supported from these sources [7] [3].