How Trump’s Tax Cut and Policy Bill Aims to ‘Supercharge’ Immigration Enforcement

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The House cleared Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Thursday — meeting the president’s self-imposed deadline of July 4.

The massive package sets aside about $170 billion to support the Trump’s administration’s border and immigration goals, which includes detaining and deporting a record number of people from the U.S.

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Both critics and supporters say carrying out Trump’s immigration agenda will depend on how effectively federal agencies implement and deploy those resources.

“It will absolutely supercharge immigration enforcement over time, but it’s not gonna happen overnight,” said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “So how quickly the Trump administration is able to use this money to fuel its mass deportations campaign is a real question.”

Immigration enforcement

The final bill allocates $45 billion for immigration detention centers, as well as about $30 billion to hire more ICE personnel, for transportation costs, and to maintain ICE facilities, among other spending. It comes as detention centers operate beyond their capacity.

The American Immigration Council estimates that the new funding could expand detention capacity to “at least 116,000 beds.”

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Border security

The bill provides roughly $46.5 billion to complete Trump’s border wall. It also sets aside $5 billion for Customs and Border Protection facilities and $10 billion for border security initiatives more broadly.

About $13.5 billion is put toward reimbursing states and local governments engaging in immigration and border-related enforcement.

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Safety net programs

The initial House bill already stripped health coverage under Affordable Care Act marketplaces and Medicare for a range of lawfully present immigrants including refugees, asylees, and those with other humanitarian protections. It also restricted eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The final version maintains those cuts while extending similar limitations to federal funding for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to Shelby Gonzales, the vice president for immigration policy at the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

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Immigration courts

Over $3 billion is allocated to the Justice Department for immigration-related activities. That includes the hiring of more immigration judges to address the growing case backlog, which was at nearly 4 million cases as of April, the latest data available.

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