What If We Spent ICE’s $170 Billion on Something That Could Actually Work?
The Smart, Cheaper System We Aren’t Building
In the last issue, I discussed that Congress gave ICE $170 billion and turned it into the largest federal police force. That article focused on the scale and structure of the expansion.
This follow-up looks at what that money could have built instead. Faster courts. Lower costs. Safer communities. That system is possible. Congress and the administration chose prisons.
The Contracts Are Already Being Signed
The new enforcement law appropriates $170 billion immediately: "there is appropriated ... out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated" (§ 70103). ICE can start obligating contracts today, and they are moving fast.
Within weeks of the bill's passage, ICE rushed a no-bid contract with CoreCivic worth $4.2 million per month to house detained immigrants at a vacant Kansas prison.
No-bid contracts with politically connected companies have become crucial to the administration's push for more detention space.
Even closed Virginia prisons are being eyed for ICE detention, as facilities nationwide exceed capacity.
Congress could have chosen a different path. For a lot less than $170 billion could have built a system that processes cases faster, costs less, and maintains public safety. This is the system we chose not to build.
The System That Could Have Been: María's Story
María fled gang threats in Honduras with her eight-year-old daughter and applied for asylum at the El Paso port in 2021.
Under the current system, their first hearing is set for 2026. Until then, she cannot plan school, work, or medical care because the court has too few judges to hear her case.
Consider if Congress had spent differently. María's case would unfold in the system we could have built:
Within 24 hours of her arrival, María would meet Rosa, a case manager funded by the Family Case Management Program (FCMP). Rosa would secure a school seat for María's daughter, explain court papers in Spanish, and provide María with a GPS monitoring device, which costs taxpayers $4.20 per day, compared to $152 per day for detention.
Within six months, María would have her hearing before one of 2,000 new immigration judges funded by a $10 billion judge surge. The DOJ budget allocates $107 million for 100 complete immigration-judge teams, meaning Congress could have deployed 2,000 teams over five years for just 6 cents of every enforcement dollar.
Each judge handles around 350 cases per year; together, they would decide approximately 700,000 cases annually, wiping out the 3.7 million-case backlog in one presidential term.
If María receives asylum, she gets a provisional work permit within 60 days and can fill jobs like those left empty by enforcement raids. The Congressional Budget Office projects a $15 billion GDP boost over a decade if 300,000 migrants work lawfully, contributing taxes and stabilizing labor markets.
If María does not receive asylum, removal happens swiftly with a clear paper trail. Rosa maintains her address, ensures she appears for removal, and coordinates with consular officials for travel documents. FCMP achieved a 99 percent compliance rate at a fraction of the cost of detention.
The Economic Damage We’re Choosing Instead
Felipe runs a strawberry crew in Ventura County. When ICE raids intensified in 2025, up to 70 percent of workers stopped reporting to work, leaving berries rotting in the fields. Recent enforcement actions have led to significant drops in farmworker attendance due to fears of deportation.
Felipe's farm is not unique. The U.S. Department of Agriculture finds that 42 percent of hired crop workers lack legal status, meaning enforcement raids threaten California's $60 billion farm economy. Agricultural experts warn that existing labor shortages could drive up food prices nationwide as immigrants are "living in terror" of deportation.
In the system we could have built, Felipe would know his workers' legal status, María would pay taxes on her earnings, and ICE would maintain oversight through electronic monitoring and regular check-ins. Instead, we are spending thirty-five times more to create labor shortages and food insecurity.
The Detention Industrial Complex Takes Shape
The money we are spending reveals troubling priorities. ICE already pays "guaranteed minimums" on detention beds. Based on the average daily bed costs in the 2020 budget, for example, ICE may have paid as much as $509 million for empty beds. in FY2020.The new budget will expand this waste exponentially.
Private-prison giant CoreCivic, which reported $120.3 million in revenue from ICE in the fourth quarter of 2024, has significant interests in detention expansion. Rural counties see jobs in razor wire and commissaries.
Those voices filled committee witness lists; Rosa's and Felipe's were harder to find.
Even family detention, which cost $161.36 per family per day in 2018, is being expanded. ICE resumed family detention in March 2025, opening facilities in Karnes County and Dilley, Texas, despite clear evidence that community-based alternatives work better and cost less.
Why "Just Deport Faster" Still Costs More
Even expedited removal demands credible-fear screenings; many claims require immigration-judge review. Travel papers from Cuba, China, or Venezuela can take months. Zadvydas v. Davis bars ICE from indefinite detention. Many "fast-track" cases end up in community supervision after weeks at $152 per day, thirty-five times the cost of starting there.
The system we could have built would process cases faster, maintain better compliance, and cost taxpayers billions less. Instead, we are building a permanent detention bureaucracy that will outlast any single administration.
The Opportunity Window Is Closing
Because the law's dollars are already appropriated, ICE can obligate funds immediately. Multi-year detention contracts are being signed while alternatives go unfunded. Only rescission or reprogramming legislation can shift money before these contracts lock in.
The arithmetic is stark:
Judge surge: $10 billion (6 cents of every enforcement dollar)
Family case management: $3.6 billion (2 cents of every enforcement dollar)
Community supervision with work permits: $2 billion (1 cent of every enforcement dollar)
For less than ten cents of every enforcement dollar, Congress could have built a system that processes cases faster, costs less, and maintains public safety without creating labor shortages or food insecurity.
María would get her hearing next year instead of 2026. Rosa's model would go nationwide. Felipe would have legal workers. ICE would maintain oversight through technology, not concrete and razor wire.
Call to Action
ICE is expanding detention capacity even as it pays millions for empty beds. Some facilities are overcrowded, while others sit underutilized. No-bid contracts are being rushed, and closed prisons are being converted to immigration detention. Once these multi-year contracts are signed, alternatives become even harder to fund.
Tell your Congressman to redirect just ten cents of every enforcement dollar into judge teams, case management, and community supervision. Alert your neighbors.
The system that works (faster justice, lower costs, stronger compliance) is still possible, but only if Congress acts before the cement hardens.
Share this analysis if you believe fair process and fiscal accountability should guide immigration policy, not detention quotas and no-bid contracts. Leave a comment and a like.